Warped Curve
by ianna28
Summary: SEQUEL TO REPEATED CURVE Everyone has been ripped from apart and have landed in different Universes in Gauton's last act. Loki and Tony have been separated and now have to work to find each other and the rest of their family before something happens. What will they find in each Universe though? Not all of them are friendly to Tech or Magic. SLASH PostMpreg FrostIron AU
1. Chapter 1

**A****/N: Okay, so here's the sequel! Takes place directly where Repeated Curve ended. Things could get confusing, but I hope they won't with the way I plan on making the chapters. It could get fun though!**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"JARVIS?" Emma called as she had put up a barrier around her, Kaia, Nathan, Clint and Lee when the others had started disappearing. "What happened? Where is everyone?"

"I'm afraid I can't find them," the AI answered and her eyes widened a little. "Starting international scans now."

"What the hell is going on?" Clint and Lee were on their feet. Emma dropped the barrier and Kaia had over to the tables first. There was a small scorch mark on the floor, but no sign of anything else. "Was that some kind of spell gone wrong?"

"I'll go down to the lab, see if I can't figure something out," Nathan said as he turned and started to job down the stairs.

"Thankfully we still have an engineer here," Clint muttered a little. They could hear Andrew start to cry as he woke up from his nap.

"I'll get him," Lee offered and went towards the room.

"This is a clusterfuck," Emma murmured and Clint nodded in agreement.

* * *

Gabby followed closely behind Loki, looking around at how familiar and yet different the city was. They had been walking around for twenty minutes, trying to make sense of where they were. As far as they could tell, there were no where near the Earth they called home. she bumped into Loki and turned when he had suddenly stopped.

Looking up her eyes widened a little and she saw why Loki had stopped. One of the advertisements had changed and they saw a shocking headline. "Stark and Rogers To Marry Today."

"We are definitely not at home anymore," Loki mumbled quietly. 

* * *

Eindride stumbled back when he and Chris had landed. He fell back into some bushes and Chris reached out to grab his hands. "What the hell just happened?"

"I was hoping that you could tell me," Chris said as he pulled his older cousin up. He looked around and blinked a little, walking over to a tree. Eindride pulled some leaves and needles from the bush out of his clothes then held them up.

"These aren't normal leaves," Eindride frowned as he examined them. He looked around and saw that the sun was starting to set, but in the opposite direction he could see the glow of lights from a city. "Come on, we should see if we can't find out where we are. Hopefully somewhere they still speak English." Chris followed him, looking around as they walked.

"Do we have any idea about what happened in there?" Chris asked and glanced over at his cousin.

"Not in the least," Eindride shook his head. "I know it was magic, but that's about it. I decided not to go up to Asgard to study it like Emma did. Kaia learned what she did from Dad, but Emma really took to it, learning from Nanna, too." Chris nodded a little as they walked.

"Think we're still on earth?" Chris asked after a few minutes of walking, but Eindride didn't answer. "I was afraid of that." 

* * *

Steve fell back into a trash can, metal lid hitting his face, papers covering his body. He shivered a little when it felt like he was sitting in something wet. He heard some movement to his right and grabbed the lid looking over. He saw that Alex had fallen into some recycling tubs and had plastic bottles falling off of him. Steve pushed himself up and wiped all the papers off of him and looked around. Luckily it was nothing wet on the ground, but he had landed in snow. Lots of it.

"I hate magic sometimes," Steve muttered as he walked over and offered a hand to Alex.

"I'm not very proficient in it, so I think I agree," Alex said as he accepted it, letting the man help pull him up. He didn't want to dwell on the fact that he was with his boyfriends father whom he had just met, he'd think about that after he found said boyfriend. "Do you think the others are here as well?"

"I don't know, but I'd like to find out. I'd like to find my son, and my pregnant wife." Steve brushed the snow from his pants and let out a breath, able to see his breath. "We should probably see if we can't find something to stay warm too."

"One would think that perhaps we aren't on Midgard anymore, it certainly wasn't near cold enough for snow before," Alex said as he followed Steve. There was a street and some cars parked on the side of the road, but it was early morning and there were no people walking down the sidewalk.

"Have I mentioned that I hate magic sometimes?" Steve muttered as he started walking through the snow with Alex next to him. 

* * *

Tony's feet landed on the ground, hands still holding onto the boys and he looked around. He pulled Tomas and Sander into him and blinked. It looked like they were in a field behind someones house, no someone's mansion.

"Daddy?" Tony took a breath and looked down when he heard Sander's soft voice. He leaned down and pulled the boys into his arms, little hands gripping his shirt.

"It's okay, I'm not going anywhere." Tony rubbed their backs as he looked around. "We're gonna stick together until we find Dad, and the others, okay?" He closed his eyes and searched for Loki. His magic was still there inside of him, like it always was now, but it didn't react. It wasn't as vibrant as it had been, like a light bulb that had just been turned out. The power was there, but the spark for that precious burn was too far away.

Tony leaned back a little so the twins could see him. "Alright, so this is gonna be different, alright? We're gonna have to be strong for each other to try and find Dad, and we might run into some strange things. But we're gonna have each other, right?" They nodded a couple time and Tony brushed their hair back a little. "You two are my brave boys, I loved you before I knew you were my sons. I just wanted you to know that." He kissed their foreheads and sighed inwardly. Would they never get a break? He wasn't sure how much he and Loki could take. And now that he couldn't be there for Loki he was a little worried. He needed to get his hands on some tech.


	2. Chapter 2

**A****/N: The plan is to follow two Universes in each chapter.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Gabby was looking through one of the gossip magazines at a stall, jaw dropped wide. Loki was looking through a more informational magazine that might help give them an idea as to where they were, and what the atmosphere might be like compared to their home.

"He's marrying Tony," she had gasped out. "Only, it's not Tony, and that's just Weird." She looked up at Loki, then showed him the engagement picture printed with the headline story. "Look at this."

"I've seen it," Loki murmured but looked over anyway. He still wasn't going to get used to it. Staring at him was in fact Steve Rogers, looking exactly like the one that Gabby was married to, but he had his arms around a decidedly female Tony Stark, who was called Natasha Stark. And she was indeed Iron Woman.

"I just, I can't, I mean," Gabby fumbled for words as she read through the article. "I don't like this, Uncle," she murmured out finally. "Where do you think we are in this place?"

"I'm not actually all that excited to find out." He sighed and put his magazine back. "Come on, we should keep searching for something else that could help." She put her own magazine back on the stands and they headed off.

"How are we going to know what can help?" Gabby asked softly.

"I was perhaps thinking that we could go and see a wedding," he suggested. "It's bond to be attended by all the heroes and magic users of this Universe, someone is bound to be able to help us."

"And what if they want to kill you right away?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You weren't exactly a gem before you met Uncle Tony." Loki hummed in agreement, if not annoyance.

"No, no I wasn't. Attempted genocide, and murder don't exactly make me the first to trust do they?" Gabby shook her head. "I supposed I'll have to put up a glamour."

"Maybe shapeshift would be better," Gabby suggested. "They're bound to have some kind of magic protection, I mean, it's a high profile wedding. There's going to be security."

Turns out the security wasn't the worst of their troubles. The church where the wedding was going to take place was packed with fans and screaming women. They'd never be able to make it to a seat inside if they couldn't even make it past the barricade on the sidewalk. A blonde lady Loki glanced at Gabby and they both sighed.

"I doubt saying that I'm Thor's niece would get us in," Gabby said as she looked over at her Uncle turned Aunt.

"There is a chance that you have not been born as Balder's daughter," Loki told her. "I'm not sure how the Norns actually work around here. The magic feels different here, and I dare not do anything to draw attention to us just yet."

"This is going to be so frustrating!" Gabby dropped her head into her hands. "And being pregnant isn't helping my mood." Loki didn't verbally agree with her, he wasn't that stupid.

"Perhaps we can find them at the reception," Loki suggested as they walked away from the crowd. He glanced at the church then looked around. "If they general layout is the same then they'll probably have it down this way," he pointed down the street as they walked.

"How do you know that?" Gabby raised an eyebrow at him. "This is a different place and different people. I mean, Steve and Tony are getting Married."

"The people may be different, but generally the thought processes are the same," Loki explained. "This Universe's Tony would have agreed to the big church wedding, priest and all, despite likely still being atheist, if she were able to have her own reception. There's no way that that much has changed about the two of them."

"I'm still trying to get over the shock that they managed to even be attracted to each other," Gabby said. She looked at Loki when he didn't say anything and frowned. "Right? I mean, on a physical level sure, but to spend the rest of their lives together?" He still didn't say anything. "Right?"

"I'd rather not ruin an image of your Uncle for you," Loki told her, turning a corner. "It's your Uncle, it could get weird if you think too much on it, and you would. You're already thinking too much on the wedding."

"Well, yeah, I am, because that's like a shade of my husband, and a gender-bent shade of your husband. That isn't weird for you?" She watched Loki as he sighed and turned to look at her.

"No, it's not, and I want you to think very deeply about if you want to hear my answer about why, or not." He looked at her and rubbed her shoulder a little. "Now come, I think I've found the place." 

* * *

Chris and Eindride made their way across the street and into the city as the rays from the sun disappeared, the lights from the city taking over completely. They took a minute to take it all in. It was like no city they had seen before, and they had traveled all over the world, and been to Asgard.

There were skyscrapers, but from an architectural stand point they should have been possible. As they started walking down the side walks Eindride was inspecting the structures, the supports, everything about them. Glass should not be able to completely hold up a building. He put a hand against one of the doors of a building as they passed and he blinked, the furrowed his brows.

"There's magic in the glass," he said to Chris. "The city feels different doesn't it? Kind of weird?" Chris nodded slowly. "It's all magic, that's the feeling of magic."

"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing," Chris said as he watched some people walk by. They turned to look at the two of them and Chris could see why. The people who lived in the city were wearing long jackets, long sleeved shirts, and what could be robes. A city full of magic users and they were there in jeans and t-shirts.

"We stick out too much," Eindride murmured as he saw people watching them.

"I highly doubt they take MasterCard." Chris and Eindride started to walk again. It was getting late, they were in a magic dominated city, and they likely had no working currency. "We need to find somewhere to crash for the night, preferably indoors somewhere."

"Oh, this is going to be fun." Eindride huffed a little and stuck close to his cousin. "Maybe we could get lucky though, and there'll be a city hall, and maybe someone will be there?" He looked and stepped over, walking backwards with a couple walking down the sidewalk. "Excuse me? Is there a City Hall close by?"

They both frowned at him and the woman spoke first. "City Hall?"

"Why would we need a big hall?" The man snorted and they ignored him and kept walking.

"Oh, there's a language barrier," Eindride groaned a little. "And it's not even an actual language problem."

"Dialect barrier," Chris mumbled and sighed. "Let's keep moving, maybe we can find something on our own."


	3. Chapter 3

**A****/N: The plan is to follow two Universes in each chapter.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Steve and Alex had decided to stop into a store, hoping that the money in this place would at least be the same, because it was cold outside, cold enough to make them find the first open store they ran across. The store clerk greeted them from somewhere in the back and they both headed for the winter jackets.

"With any luck we won't be around here long enough to care about what they look like," Steve said as he grabbed a blue jacket. He saw Alex grab a long gray jacket and heard the clerk coming out from the back. He reached for his wallet as they headed for the counter, pausing to grab two scarves and two pair of gloves.

"Oh my god," the woman said and Steve blinked and looked up at her behind the counter. "I'm so sorry i didn't come out earlier, did you need any help finding anything? I can't believe you're in my store." Alex raised an eyebrow and glanced at Steve.

"Oh, ah, it's okay," Steve gave her a small smile and opened his wallet. "We're in a bit of a hurry, so it's no problem."

"Oh no no, I can't take your money," she smiled widely at him and pushed his hand back down on his wallet.

"We can't just-"

"I insist! Please," she smiled. "This is my store, and it's an honor to have you in here. "Let me just get a bag."

"We won't need a bag, thank you," Alex said as he wrapped the scarf and jacket over his arm. She nodded and smiled at them both.

"I know you're in a hurry and all, but do you mind if I get a quick picture with my phone? The clerk asked Steve. "My sister is just one of your biggest supporters and it would mean a lot." Steve smiled and nodded and the woman pulled a phone out of her pocket to take his picture. "thank you so much," she looked at her phone as Steve and Alex started to slip the jackets on. "She's never going to believe that I met the President." Steve's eyes widened. 

* * *

Tony could feel the pull of little hands on the back of his pants as he knocked on the front door to the mansion. It had taken them some time to make their way up to the building from the field, and the sun was setting and he could feel a chill in the wind. Tony needed to get the boys into some kind of shelter, hopefully with a bed and blanket.

He put his hands on their shoulders and heard footsteps from inside the building. When it opened he blinked a little at the clothing. It looked like the man at the door had just stepped out of the 1940's, dark sweater vest on over a button down white shirt, and brown trouser pants. Tony thought that he must look like a bum in his jeans and t-shirt.

"Hello?" The man asked, glancing down at the boys before back up to tony, taking in his appearance. "Can I help you?"

"I'm really hoping you can." Tony didn't think that his usual charm would work here. "I know it's late, but my boys and I are stranded out here and I was wondering if you knew of a place that we could stay for the night. It's getting kind of cold out here."

"Jack?" The man looked back behind him as a woman's voice called out. "Who is it?" She walked over, wearing a polka dot knee length dress. Definitely the fashion from over a hundred years ago.

"My name is Tony, and these are my two boys, Tomas and Sander," Tony introduced quickly. He felt their hands tighten on his pants a little as their shyness took over. "I was just telling your husband that we were lost."

"They're looking for a place to spend the night out of the cold," the man told his wife. The couple exchanged a little, and Tony felt a little hopeful. "The spare bedroom is made up, isn't it?"

"Yes, of course," the woman smiled and they both stepped aside to let them in. Tony twisted a little to take the twins hands this time, giving them a reassuring squeeze. "Please come inside."

"Thank you so much," Tony said as they walked inside. Tomas and Sander stayed close to his legs. "Can you say thank you?"

"Thank you," Tomas said quietly and Sander nodded at the words.

"It's no problem," the woman said as she bent at her knees to their eye level. "Would you both like something to drink? Milk or water?"

They looked up at Tony. "Water, please. I'm sorry, they're a little shy around new people."

The woman smiled as she got up and her husband chuckled. "Oh, it's no problem. Children will be like that. I'll be back."

"I'll take them up to show them the room," Jack offered. His wife nodded and Tony followed the man through the main room and to some stairs. He was briefly reminded of the mansion he had lived in when he was a kid. Large meeting room at the entrance, a kitchen towards the back with the dining room connected by a swinging door. the living room had been separated by a smaller room, probably so that it would give others the chance to hear if someone was coming.

Tony shook himself from his memories and walked slowly with the boys upstairs. He was glad that they had offered one room instead of two, because there was no way he was going to be leaving his sons. The walk down the hall from the stairs wasn't long, thankfully, and Jack had opened up a wooden door and walked in. Tony was glad to see a large bed as he followed, covered in a yellow quilt and several large pillows.

"There's a connecting bathroom through the door over there," the man pointed as Tony picked up Tomas and then Sander and set them on the bed. A few moments later his wife walked in with a small tray and three glasses of water, along with some bowls of what looked like soup.

"I wasn't sure if you would be hungry, and we had some left over soup," she said gently as she set the tray down on the coffee table in the middle of the room.

"Thank you," Tony smiled as he sat next to boys.

"So how did you come to find yourself way out here?" Jack asked as Tony fussed with Tomas's hair out of a nervous habit.

"I'm uh, I'm not quite sure," Tony admitted. He had been trying to think of an excuse all the way up to the mansion, but without knowing where, or apparently when, they were, he didn't know what he would say. "There was some kind of accident, but I'm not sure what happened after that." It was mostly the truth.

"Are you three alright?" The woman asked suddenly, thinking that it must have been a vehicle accident.

"We're fine, thank you, just disoriented, and hoping to find our family." Tony messed with Sander's hair until he pushed his hand away.

"Perhaps we can help," the man offered. "We have some connections around the city, whoa are you looking for?"

Tony didn't know how to answer that. How do you ask for help finding a God, or Captain America, if he's even around yet. "Stark, and Rogers, actually."

"Well, Stark is going to be a little hard to find," the man chuckled a little. "Howard Stark is pretty well known-"

"He's family," Tony admitted slowly. His dad found the tesseract and helped Steve become Captain America, so a time traveling son wouldn't be too far fetched. He hoped. Glancing back at his sons who were pulling back the covers to the quilt, he thought that he'd do just about anything to get them back home safe, and find Loki. "He's my cousin, actually."

The couple's eyes had widened a little. "Well, I suppose that makes thing a lot easier. Tell you what, you three eat and drink, and get some sleep. In the morning we'll see what we can't do about getting you out to your family."

"Thank you, very much, it means a lot." Tony looked at the boys. As much as he'd hate to admit it, he'd need his father's help, and didn't that just burn.


	4. Chapter 4

**A****/N: The plan is to follow two Universes in each chapter.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"This is definitely it," Gabby commented as they both stopped to stare at the wedding cake in the kitchen. Red and Blue with the groom on top holding a little shield. That's something Tony would completely do. Any tony. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait for someone to come, hopefully someone who can help us," Loki commented as he looked around the reception hall. He was faintly reminded of their own wedding, and couldn't help but think that theirs had looked better to him. Loki could admit that he was biased though.

"Our wedding looked better than this one," Gabby murmured and Loki smiled a little.

It didn't take long until people starting showing up, and Gabby and Loki were able to blend in with the guests inside. Gabby put a hand on Loki's hand when she saw Thor walk in with Balder behind him. "I'm not sure if they're the best ones to ask first," Loki said quietly.

"Why?" She raised an eyebrow as she took a drink of her water.

"I'm not sure if I'm Thor's enemy in this Universe or not," Loki admitted. "If I am, then it will not go well at all."

"And what about my, well, Balder?" Gabby asked, glancing over to the door as more people walked in.

"I will eventually, if not already have been, be involved in his attempted death," Loki mumbled. Gaby looked at him. "Well, who is honestly deadly allergic to mistletoe." Gabby sighed.

"It's not exactly like we can go talk to Tony and Steve, it's their wedding, and if you Are an enemy they'll kill you in a second." She looked at Loki and he rolled his eyes a little. "I'll go over first, I'll do the talking until we're sure that they're not going to kill you." Loki let out a long sigh and followed her across the room.

Timing it just right they managed to get the two Asgardians alone and Gabby slid up with her water and smiled. "Hi, I'm Gabriella," she offered her hand to Thor first then to Balder, the two keeping eye contact for a few seconds. She tried not to let it show when Balder didn't react. "I was wondering if I could ask you two a couple of quick questions?"

"I don't see why not," Balder smiled at her and Gabby just stared at him.

"Right, well," she looked back over at Thor first. "Any chance of seeing Loki here at the reception?"

"I should hope not, but he's been quiet for a while," Thor responded, not with malice, but not exactly pleased about the topic.

"Okay," she nodded. "And my next question is, do you think you could possibly help me get home?"

"If you live in another realm, perhaps," Balder chuckled a little. He and Thor noticed that she was laughing and they raised an eyebrow.

"Actually, a different dimension," she admitted. Loki groaned and dropped his face in his hand. Thor and Balder glanced up at the still disguised Loki. "Perhaps we can discuss this in a more private area? Please?"

Loki led them away to a small alcove in the reception hall, not too far away from the party, but away from prying ears. "I sense a familiar power around you two," Thor commented as they stopped. "and yet, it's different."

"We're from a different Universe, different Dimension," Loki said to him. "And so I'll hope you don't ruin this party when I tell you-" he gasped for air when Thor's hand was suddenly around his throat, the glamour disappearing.

"No," Gabby went to grab his hand but Balder had taken her arm to pull her back. She pulled away and Balder was shocked for a second when she was actually strong enough to do so. Gabby grabbed Thor's arm and pulled down a little. When Thor went to push her away Loki's hand went out to grab his.

"Don't," Loki gasped out, managing to get some air into his lungs. "She's with child." Thor frowned, glanced at Gabby without turning his head then back at Loki, confused.

"Why would you protect a mortal, Loki?" Thor demanded.

"I'm not just a mortal," Gabby told him. "Please release my Uncle." This had the attention of the two older Gods. "He isn't controlling me, I'm not an illusion. Please, we need your help because we aren't sure how to get back home to our families."

"Family?" Balder questioned looking at Loki. "You refuse to say that you have a family whenever we see you."

Loki motioned to Thor's hand and he slowly took away, but still alert. He coughed a little and rubbed his throat. "I am not the Loki that you know, as I've said, we're from a different Dimension. Where I'm from this is my niece, I'm married, and have five children. We would very much like to get back to them."

"I'm not sure how we can help, if we decided too," Thor told them.

"Yes, well, unfortunately, I have a few ideas on how you could help. Tell me, who is the ruler of Hel?" 

* * *

"Of course it wouldn't be called a City Hall," Eindride mumbled as they saw the big building with a fountain with water that kept changing colors. "No no, apparently that was too difficult to understand, we had to ask for the Tribunal building. They do know that that's a court house, right? Not the same thing?"

"I don't think they really care," Chris told him. "Let me do the talking, it's late and I'd rather not get kicked out, or worse. They have magic here, and the most I can do is steal Alex's cookie when he's five feet away."

"Yeah, but you've got super soldier in you too," Eindride looked at him. "You could probably knock them out. Your Dad fought my Dad who had powers once."

"He also has a shield that Mjolnir couldn't scratch." Eindride made a face and nodded. "Yeah, so I'll do the talking."

"Don't trust me?' Eindride smirked.

"Not to let us leave without getting arrested or dead," Chris told him. The older man huffed and they reached for the doors. Eindride could feel magic running through the doors as well and became ten time more curious then he already was about the city. He knew he'd have to tell both his parents about the city and hope that one of them would be able to explain it more to him. He could feel the tingle that Tony sometimes would get when he just wanted to reverse engineer something to figure it out.

The doors opened and they could feel something tingle down their spines, probably some sort of security system, checking for spells or weapons maybe. There was an open lobby in white as the two men walked in. A door off to the side opened and two men in yellow robes walked out.

"Hello," Chris spoke as they approached. "We apologize for the late hour, but we are actually quite lost and was wondering if perhaps we could speak with someone to learn about where we were and possibly help us set off in the right direction to get back to our home." The two men looked at each other for a long second before nodding and beckoning them to follow. Chris looked at Eindride who just shrugged. They had been walking around the city for two hours, it was dark, chilly and they were tired.

The two men didn't speak as they walked down the halls of the building and Eindride could practically feel the hum of magic through the floors, he could feel it around them and took slow breaths not wanting to get overwhelmed by the feeling. He was definitely going to tell Loki about this. He hoped he didn't lose control of his powers because of it though.

The men in robes opened another door for them and motioned for them to enter. They closed the door quietly behind them, but they didn't hear the click of a lock. It seemed to be someone office with a large desk set up on one side, two couches facing each other on the other side, and a balcony separated by some glass overlooking the bright magical city.

"What are two strapping young lads like yourselves doing here?" They turned as a tall man with an open yellow robe and black clothing underneath walked out from an attached room. "Usually the night life is bursting at this hour." He smiled at them and approached them, extending his hand to first Eindride who was closer, then to Chris. They each shook his hand. "I'm Gjinir, pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is ours," Chris returned. As much as his parents teased him he had learned some manners from his father, he had had to meet his fair share of political leaders. "I'm Chris, and this is my cousin Anders. We've come hoping that you could help us."

"Well, I'd certainly like to hear you out," the man nodded as he took out three glasses, pouring a drink into two of them from a crystal tumbler. He walked over to the two and offered them the glasses, pleased when they both took them. Gjinir walked back over and poured his own glass from the same tumbler. "You'll understand that I cannot promise any aide until I know what it entails. Please, drink up," he lifted his glass.

"I could certainly use a drink," Eindride said softly and raised his. Chris raised his as well, if not a little more hesitantly. He took a sip of it as Eindride took a long draw, wincing a little as it slipped down his throat. "That sure is a different burn than anything I've had at home."

"Yes, it is made specifically for this city, and her officials." Gjinir put his glass down, some of his pleasantness slipping. Chris was suddenly on alert. Eindride gasped and dropped the glass as his eyes widened, putting a hand to his stomach. Gjinir grabbed Chris's jaw and turned his head before he could grab his cousin. "You see, we have ways to protect ourselves from our enemies. These drinks are laced with various spells, they let us know when the Fae, or other enemies, have come into our presence. You're Asgardian, that's interesting."

Eindride let out a shout of pain and slipped to his knees, body tensing in pain. He started wheezing in breaths, and Chris could see him start to shake. He tried to get to him but found that his feet suddenly wouldn't move. Gjinir grabbed Eindride's chin and lifted his head up to look at him. Chris could see his cousin's usually green eyes glowing. The man frowned deeply then let go and stood up, looking over at Chris.

"What is he?" Gjinir walked closer to him, leaving Eindride on the floor, gasping in pain, back arching. Chris swallowed but didn't say anything at first.

"He's my cousin," Chris told the man, anger lacing his tone. "He's the son of two Gods, and when they find out what you've done, you had better hope you can hide."

"I'll ask one more time, and if you tell me then I'll stop his pain." The two robed men walked into the room again. "Do you know what he's feeling right now? His insides feel like they're on fire, and his skin feels like it could start to flake away at any second. Now, tell me what he is, and his pain will stop him." Chris winced and closed his eyes when they grabbed Eindride's arms, a scream ripping through his throat at the pain.

"Stop," he said quietly. "He's part Fae, he was born that way. He's part Fae, Jotun, Midgardian, and has Asgardian powers."

"St-stop," Eindride gasped out, head still hanging down. "Don't t-tell them anymor-ore. They'll lear-rn s-soon." He screamed when they pulled his arms back, forcing his head up.

"His skin is very sensitive right now," Gjinir said, looking over at Eindride. "I'm afraid that's what happens to the Fae, but he's lucky if he's only part Fae." The man looked back at Chris, no shame, no distress in his eyes, no care for the pain he was causing. "If he were fullblood his skin would have started to come off by now."

Chris felt hands grab onto his arms as he could finally move his feet. "I'll deal with them in the morning, Gjinir told the robed men. "I've got a previous engagement to get back too."

"You said you'd stop whatever you're doing to him!" Chris shouted as the men started to pull them from the room. "I told you what he was, you promised!"

"Did you get it in writing?" Gjinir smirked and looked back at Chris. "No? Then I'm afraid I'm not bound by any law or binding oath to do that." He turned around and headed for the exit. "Anyway, there is no way to stop what's happening to him. It might eventually wear off if you say he is what he truly is." Chris tried to fight against the hands dragging him off, growling loudly.


	5. Chapter 5

**A****/N: The plan is to follow two Universes in each chapter.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Steve had the scarf wrapped around his face, up to his nose, hands in his pockets. Alex had been watching him since they left the store, a slight smirk on his face, but he hadn't said anything. It was later in the day and the streets were more crowded now. Although Steve had noticed that money was still the same in this place, and he surely did not want to have to use a credit card and let people see his name. Of course now he wasn't sure that he technically had any accounts here, this couldn't be the New York he lived in.

"You might as well let it out," Steve said, muffled through the scarf. They were sitting on a bench in a park. Getting a little more information they needed a new plan. And now Steve needed to move carefully so he didn't pick up more unwanted attention. "You've been watching me since we left the store."

Alex let out a small chuckle and leaned back on the bench. "You're face was priceless." Steve hummed in annoyance. "Although I can't believe that you're Pres-" Steve shushed him from saying the word. "I can't believe you're in charge."

"And why exactly is that?" Steve raised an eyebrow looking over at him. He might have at one point thought about running for some office, maybe not President right away or anything, but it was sometimes on his mind. It would be more stable than running off every time a villain attacked, hoping that nothing happened to him or his family, again.

"Because you're sitting next to me," Alex said simply. "You're nothing like the politicians that we're used to, and that just doesn't seem natural. Not saying that you'd be bad at it," he shrugged a little as he looked around the park. "People are obviously happy with you in office. It just doesn't fit who you are right now."

"We just met a day ago," Steve reminded the man. "You're apparently dating my son, and I don't know much about you, and I can assume you don't know much about me."

"You're a family man," Alex told him, not looking over at him. "You hold your family, all of your family, and friends in high regard, those that have earned your trust, because you've obvious seen a lot, and had your share of betrayals." Steve blinked a little at he talked. "Because of what you've been through you want nothing more than to protect those you love, but can be stubborn and sometimes blind to see that that's what they want for you too." Alex looked over at Steve now. "Yes, I am dating your son, and yes we did only meet, but I can tell so much about you from sitting here with you, and from spending time with Chris. He's turned into an amazing adult, with a stable head on his shoulders, and he's picked up a lot of your traits, I can see that now. You've obviously been a good father, and will continue to be so as soon as we get back home."

Steve was silent for a bit, words failing to form in his mind. Here, practically a complete stranger, had been able to read him, to tell him what he was like, and at the same time tell him that at least one of his kids had come out a good man. "Thank you," he said after a couple minutes and Alex nodded. Maybe it was because they were both soldiers that both could talk to each other so casually, but still have certain levels of respect for each other. "So, we have some time while we figure out a plan. Why don't you tell me about yourself?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "If you're going to continue dating my son, I'd like to get to know you a little. Like you said, I'm a family man." He smiled and Alex chuckled a little. 

* * *

Tony ruffled his hair in the mirror again and shook his head back and forth. He was so not used to not being able to use a dryer or any of the product he was used to. He found some kind of hair oil and was able to slick his hair back a little. He had caught sight of it and used the brush to brush it out immediately. He looked too much like his father. There was a small knock on the door and Tony opened it. Jack's wife, Gina, was holding on to some folded clothes and he smiled taking them.

"I didn't want to wake the boys," she said quietly. "Here are their clothes all washed and dried."

"Thank you," he took the bundle from her.

"Breakfast will be ready in about half an hour, whenever they wake up just come on down," she told him. "Jack will take you into the city after you eat. Howard is supposed to be in town for the rest of the week, and if there's anyone who can get you in, it's my Jack."

"You have no idea how much I appreciate all the help, ma'am," Tony said, flashing his Stark charm. She pat his cheek a little and giggled.

"Now, finish getting ready, can't delay you anymore from finding your family." He nodded and watched her leave before he let his smile slip. This wasn't the family that he wanted to find, not in the least. Tony wasn't thrilled with seeing Howard again, specially not meeting the Howard that was just coming off of the war and losing Steve Rogers, at least 20 years before he was even born.

Tony leaned against the door of the bathroom and looked over at the bed, seeing Tomas and Sander still asleep. He took a breath as he watched them, so peaceful, and was happy that he could see them with smiles on their faces when they're awake. Tony knew it was just because of old feelings and emotions coming up, but he resolved to tell the boys he loved them at least once a day. He wasn't going to be like his father, no matter what good intentions he had. "Good intentions are what roads are paved with," he muttered and set the clothes down before going back in to fix his hair. 

* * *

Tony was straightening the borrowed shirt from Jack out of habit as they stood in the lobby. Tomas and Sander were sitting on either side of him, watching their Daddy fidget more than usual. They were in the first New York headquarters of Stark Industries and Jack was currently meeting with Howard, telling him that his cousin Anthony Stark was outside waiting for him. The name Anthony would get him if anything.

One of Howard's middle names was Anthony, just like his father's middle name had been Howard. It was a Stark tradition to name their sons with their middle names. At least until Tony came around. He knew that Howard would be curious enough to play along, and it really rubbed Tony awkwardly that he still knew his father this well, and felt a little bit of familiar anxiety before seeing him again. Tony needed Loki with him.

The door to the offices opened and Tony looked up and held his breath a little when he saw Jack and Howard walking over. Tony never realized just how much he looked like his father, it was almost unnatural, and that bother Tony for some reason. Tony stood up when they got closer and Howard looked at him closely, also noting the similarities.

"Been a while since I've seen you, Tony," Howard said, giving him a look, and Tony knew he had him hooked.

"Yeah, well, things happen," he shrugged a little. "I'm just glad that I managed to get lost so close to family." Tony smiled and turned to Jack and put his hand out. "I can't thank you and your wife enough for all the help you've given."

Jack shook his hand and nodded. "Don't be a stranger, we'd be happy to have you over anytime." He turned and clapped Howard on the shoulder and the two smiled. "You too, we haven't seen you nearly enough since the war ended."

"I'm a busy man, but I'll see what I can do. Thanks, Jack." They watched Jack head for the elevator and Howard motioned for Tony to follow him. Tony turned and took Tomas and Sander's hands, keeping them as close as they wanted to be to him, taking comfort from their presence.

They followed Howard to his personal office at the end of the hallway and Tony helped the boys sit on the couch while the door was locked. Tony stood up and saw Howard standing there, looking at him, evaluating.

"Well, you've got my attention," Howard said. "And now I'm really interested in your story. You obviously didn't go through surgery to look like me, because I can see the genetics in the boys over there." And if Tony moved a step or two over to keep them behind him, he didn't comment. "But you look disconcertingly too much like me."

"Have you found the tesseract yet?" Tony asked first and Howard furrowed his brows. "I'll take that as a yes. So you know that it's nothing of this world, right?" Howard nodded a little as he moved over to his desk, leaning against the edge. "Then this won't be too hard to believe."

"You're not going to tell me that you're my father are you? And I'm actually one of those boys?" Howard nodded towards the couch. "Because I'm fairly certain that's something I would have remembered."

Tony shook his head and opened his mouth to explain when the office door unlocked and opened, someone stepping in before locking the door again. Tony's eyes widened and he stopped breathing for a second when he saw the man. Steve Rogers crossed his arms across his chest as he frowned looking between Tony and Howard.

"You try another experiment, Howard?" Steve asked and Tony found his breath again, taking a step back in shock.

"No, but he knows about the tesseract." Tony looked over at Howard. This wasn't right, he was supposed to have found the tesseract, but not Steve. He was back in time, but he also wasn't in the same Universe.

Tony stumbled back, putting a hand to his head as he tried to process everything. He suddenly felt hot, very hot, and his vision was blurry. His legs hit the couch and he felt little hands on him, voices were speaking but he couldn't understand them. He saw Tomas and Sander helping him sit before his vision blacked out.


	6. Chapter 6

**A****/N: I was inspired to continue Tony's story for this chapter.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony was aware of his breathing as he started to wake up, could hear some voices talking around him, and felt something squeezing onto his arms. He took a breath through his nose and his eyes fluttered open. He was looking up at a white ceiling and frowned a little. This wasn't his bedroom.

"Daddy?" A little voice sounded by his head. He turned his head a little and saw Tomas staring at him with big eyes. The little boy was latched onto his arm, and when he turned his head the other way he saw Sander was attached to his other arm. So that's what he felt, that was okay then.

"Hey," he said softly. "I'm okay now, it's okay." He noticed that he was on his back on the floor, still in Howard's office. "Can you help me sit up?" They both nodded and let go of his arms just enough so he could use them. When he was up the boys climbed into his lap immediately. Glancing down he noticed that his shirt had been unbutton halfway, the arc reactor exposed. He frowned and looked up at Howard and Not-Steve.

"They wouldn't let us get near you," Steve said when he was sure that Tony was conscious enough. Howard was looking through some papers, and Tony knew that look, Loki said he got it whenever there was something that shouldn't be possible but was obviously right there in front of him.

"That's not uncle Steve," Sander said quietly and Tony rubbed his back.

"No, it's not, you're right." He could see the confused look on Rogers face. He looked up at the two men then. "Why is my shirt open?"

"They were looking at your arc," Tomas told him and Tony's face hardened a little. The boys had been curious about the glow in his chest before he knew who they were, and he gave them a shortened version to let them know it was very important, and kept him feeling good.

"It's a miniaturized version of my arc reactor,' Howard said and glanced up over his papers briefly. "I'm not sure who, or what you are, but now would be a really good time to explain. Label yourself a spy before my good friend here does it for you."

"What do you mean What I am?" Tony frowned. He wished he had never come here. "And this is your arc reactor, but better. I did what you couldn't, I made it work."

"Why would you put it in your body though? The chemical compounds would be enough to kill you-"

"There's no palladium in it anymore, and excuse me, keep the tones or morbidity down around my sons, thank you." Tony huffed a little through his nose. "My arc reactor is none of your business right now, and I still want to know what you mean but What I am."

Steve looked over at Howard, both contemplating how much to tell him. "You're genetics are, mine, and yet not mine," Howard finally said and Tony frowned. "This says that you're my son genetically, but not by birth, like your DNA was doctored to match mine." Tony swallowed and he blinked, mouth opening a little. "It doesn't make any sense, but I couldn't do more cause I couldn't get close to you."

"He was going to take the arc out," Tomas said quietly, an edge of protectiveness to his voice.

"I needed to see if it had anything to do with this," Howard said, holding up the papers that obviously held the DNA reports.

"Don't, touch it," Tony said, trying to keep his voice steady. "If you take it out, I'll die. It's a giant magnet that's keeping shrapnel in place." Both men blinked, taking in what he said, understanding what that meant. "It has nothing to do with my DNA, trust me. What do you mean doctored?" Tony asked, arms around his boys out of habit.

"Well, not like a clone, this was obviously something done after you were born," Howard said looking back at the papers, letting Steve keep an eye on him, gaging Tony's reactions. "It couldn't have been too long after you were born though, because it had time to shape what you would look like."

Tony's breathing had started to speed up a little as he took the information, putting together a vague picture. He wouldn't know for sure what had happened until he got back to his own lab, until he was able to get a look at records, but it wasn't looking good. What it was looking like was that his father's words to him a long time ago made more sense than he knew. "His greatest creation," Tony whispered and he dropped his head back, cutting off a line of curses. "I can't believe it."

"Tomas, Sander," the two boys looked up at him when he said their names softly. "I need to talk to these two men, do you still have the ear pieces?" The boys nodded, and Tony knew they did, he had made sure they were in their pockets before they left. They each pulled out a small pair of earpieces, like headphones and slipped them in, and Tony knew it would play some music that they liked. He helped them move to the couch before he stood up and moved a few steps closer to Rogers and Howard.

"I'm not gonna try and sugarcoat things, I don't have the time, or the temperament anymore, for it. This isn't my New York, this isn't my dimension." He could tell that Rogers thought he was crazy, but Howard wasn't immediately turned off the idea. "You both know about the tesseract, you've seen what it can do, so this concept isn't exactly insane. In another time, and another world, I'm Anthony Edward Stark, son to an even bigger asshole than I thought, Howard Stark."

"Well, that would explain why your tech is more advanced," Howard admitted a little quietly.

"In my time, you found the tesseract, but you didn't find this guy," he pointed at Rogers. "He wasn't found for another 70's in the ice."

"They said Uncle Steve," Rogers said, nodding towards the couch.

"Because in our time you married my niece, and we work together," Tony told him. "But you are so much more mellow in my time." Tony rubbed his face a little, feeling his body heat up a little again. "Listen, I don't care if you believe me, but something is wrong right now, and I need to know if your little DNA report says anything else about me."

Howard handed over the paper to him, Rogers raising his eyebrow at his friend, questioning his decision. Howard merely shrugged. Tony took the paper, sitting down in the closest chair before he could give his legs the chance to wobble. Now that he was able to see the reports, his fears were confirmed a little. The Howard from his time had genetically altered Tony, that he hadn't been his biological son. He wondered if it was another attempt to bring back a portion of the super soldier, get back part of the friend he thought was lost to the war.

Tony rubbed at his eyes when his vision started to blur again. He noticed that there was a faint green and gold glow around his fingers and he frowned. Taking a breath he tried to focus, pulling his sight inside. His body was heating up because his powers were misbehaving, they were becoming unstable. He saw the connection that Loki had established, that claimed Tony as his, saw as it pulsed, rogues energy around it. Something was wrong, and it he was now able to say that it was something to do with his Fae energies.

Tony's eyes shot open when he was jerked in the chair and saw Rogers in front of him, shaking his shoulders. "-ny, can you hear me?" Tony blinked then nodded a little. He looked around then pushed himself up suddenly, the papers falling to the floor. He could feel Rogers behind him, following hi as he made his way back over to the couch, to the boys.

He needed Loki, he knew that now, not only because they grounded each other, but now it was obvious that the distance between them was having an adverse effect on the connection they had. So if Tony needed Loki's powers, maybe he could try the closest thing, keeping the boys close to him to balance him out. Tony was not pleased at this turn of events.

The boys looked at him as he almost fell onto the couch next to them, glowing hands taking one of theirs. Tomas's hand started to take on a golden glow as Sander's hand took on a green glow. They didn't ask any questions, didn't pull away, didn't seem bothered by it in the least and just squeezed Tony's hands. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning his head on top of theirs.

"I need your help to get back to my time," Tony said once his body temperature had dropped a little. "I need to get back, before something happens to me." He glanced over at Rogers and Howard. "Before something happens to me and I can't protect my sons." The two men nodded a little and Tony closed his eyes again.


	7. Chapter 7

**A****/N: I have this problem where I like to make some characters uncomfortable... I'm not seeking help for it. :)**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"How will knowing who's in Hel going to help you?" Balder asked as he looked at Loki.

"Well, that really still depends on who's in Hel," Loki answered unhelpfully. "If it's our sister-"

"Sister?" Thor sounded surprised at the words. "We don't have a sister."

"Oh joy," Loki mumbled under his breath. "It's That kind of dimension." Gabby raised an eyebrow at him. "It's my,... daughter, isn't it?"

"You forgot you had a daughter down there?" Balder raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say you have children back in your dimension?"

"Unless he's lying," Thor murmured.

"I do have, and I have two daughters, but they are not Hela. My children are with my Midgardian partner." That shocked Thor and Balder. "And where I'm from, Hela is our sister, not my daughter."

"Thank god for that," Gabby snorted out.

"I need to ask her if there is someone down in her realm, for they Might be able to help us," Loki admitted. "I'm not sure how things would have played out in this dimension, since obviously I have not followed the same path as I have back home."

"Obviously not, if you married someone from Midgard." Gabby let out a snort at Balder's words and he looked over at her. Loki put a hand on her shoulder and she just wrinkled up her nose a little.

"Who are you looking for?" Thor asked Loki before Gabby or Balder could say anything else.

"A Fae by the name of Gauton," Loki said, and if they detected venom in his voice the didn't comment on it.

"He is not in Hel then," Thor told him. "As much as the rest of us wish he would be. He is still undetectable in the forest of Alfheim." Loki closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Why would you seem him out though? It does not sound as though you hold any love for him." Well, no one other than Thor had commented on the tone of Loki's voice.

"No, much the opposite," Loki grumbled out and Gabby watched him. "And it is actually by one of his spells that we find ourselves here. I can't reverse the spell, and get the rest of our family back, without knowing exactly what he had cast."

"Isn't that going to be a little hard?" Loki glanced at Balder. "Well, it's not the same Fae so would he still have the same spells in his arsenal?"

"Yes, just as I have have the same spells as my counterpart here," Loki informed them. "The only difference is that I don't use those spells to try and wipe you and the rest of your heroes off of this realm. A tragedy, really."

"Really?" Gabby looked at him, crossing her arms a little.

"Sometimes I miss when I would strike fear into the very souls of others," Loki seemed to sigh wistfully. Gabby snorted and shook her head.

"That sounds more like the Loki we know," Thor commented.

"Yes, well, thank you for your information. If you'll excuse us we'll be leaving to go back home-" He had looped Gabby's arm with his but she looked at him.

"We can't even stay for ten more minutes so that I can get something to eat?" Loki blinked a little. "I Am a pregnant woman, I need something to eat." Loki could see straight through her flimsy excuse. He could practically feel the curiosity on her, wanting to see the Steve Rogers of this time. He looked at her and she stared back evenly.

Yes, she knew it was a bad idea, no, she didn't care. She knew that it would be her own doing for whatever she saw or felt. Loki let out a sigh and nodded once, slipping back into his disguise but not letting go of her arm. "I can assume that you'll allow us this before we leave?" He asked Balder and Thor. Loki held up two glowing fingers. "I swear on my blood that I shall not cause any mischief to spoil this day for the wedded couple." The two Asgardians didn't stop them as they walked back into the reception hall.

Gabby had gotten a refill on her water and Loki grabbed a flute of champagne. He deserved this drink now. He let Gabby go and snag a couple of appetizers from the trays that were floating around the room before she came back over. They didn't have to wait long for the cew husband and wife to enter the room.

Loki glanced at the Steve and Tony of this dimension for a moment before turning his attention back to his niece. All her attention was focused on Stark and Rogers. They were of course in their armor, because he honestly couldn't even imagine a female Tony Stark going shopping for a wedding dress, but their faces were uncovered. They were beaming, arms around each other. The crowd gave a cheer, some whistles, and they couldn't help but please everyone with a kiss.

Loki put a hand on Gabby's back and she took a breath. "We should go," he said quietly, and she nodded. He started to lead her out of the room, weaving between the people who were too busy looking at the newly married couple.

Loki was able to get them out of the building from the side door, slipping past the guards that were stationed there to make sure no one else got inside that didn't have an invitation. Loki need to find a spot where he could access a path out of Midgard and to Alfheim.

"It doesn't bother you?" Gabby asked him quietly as they walked. "Seeing them like that? You didn't feel anything?"

Loki let out a little sigh. "Yes and no. Are you sure you want to hear this?" He looked over at her and she nodded. "Was I bothered? Yes, but it's not the first time I've encountered the feeling. If I'm honest I didn't think that Tony and I were actually very serious in our relationship until just before I started to carry Kaia." Gabby frowned a little as she listened. "It was obvious, before we got together, that Tony was clearly attracted Steve."

"What?" Gabby's eyes had widened a little. Loki just shrugged a little.

"It's not all that surprising to me now. His father was instrumental into making Steve how he looks today, and so would have raised his son on stories of the brave Captain," Loki told her. "He had idolized him as a child, didn't know that there was a chance he could actually come back, but when he did all those feelings and emotions came back. I was rather uncomfortable with my first tastes of jealousy back then, but not so much anymore."

Gabby blinked slowly, taking it all in. "So," she started after a minute, "seeing them back there..."

"Was just a natural progression into what Tony would have done, had the option been available to him. I obviously am beyond redemption in this dimension and thus have never gotten to know Stark." Loki stopped and took her hands, looking at her. "You can't let this get to you, it is just another dimension, and one that we do not live in. All paths are different everywhere, and what we have in our home is exactly what is supposed to happen. We are with the ones that we were meant to be with."

She squeezed his hands and nodded. "Thank you, Uncle." He kissed the top of her head and pulled her into a quick hug.


	8. Chapter 8

**A****/N: I have this problem where I like to make some characters uncomfortable... I'm not seeking help for it. :)**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Chris was resting his head on his knees, his mind going over any plan that he could possibly think of. The robed men had taken them to the basement of the building, and the only thing that kept Chris from breaking free of their grip to to go after Gjinir was Eindride. He had been too weak and they would have hurt him, purely for being born the way he was. They threw Chris into a cell first. The room was entirely made out of glass, but when they had closed the door it was sealed, the door disappearing. Chris really hated magic right now.

Chris lifted his head and looked over to the side when he heard Eindride's breathing pick up. They had put his cousin in a cell next to him. Chris was glad that he had passed out quickly after that, he didn't want hi to have to go through anymore pain.

"Anders?" Chris unfolded his legs and moved over to the glass separating them. "Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

Eindride let out a little moan and turned his head a little. "I feel like shit," he said hoarsely. Chris leaned his head against the glass, eyes closing in relief at his voice. "No, shit feels better than this."

"Can you move?" Chris opened his eyes to watch him.

Eindride moved his fingers a little, before slowly moving his arms, groaning a little. "Yeah, I just gotta stretch a little. My body feels like it's been through a few rounds with all of the Avengers, ten times." He took a deep breath and slowly pushed himself up. "Where are we?"

"In the basement somewhere," Chris told him. "In magical glass cells, too."

"That would explain the buzzing in my ears," Eindride muttered. He had turned to look at Chris and he was glad not to see his eyes were glowing anymore. Whatever was in the drink must have worn off. "The buildings here are filled with magic, it's what makes them so impossible as structures. And it's giving me a major migraine."

"Well, I'm sure we won't have to stay here much longer," Chris muttered, leaning against the glass. "I'm not sure how much time has passed, but it's been a few hours. I'm sure morning is coming-"

"And I'll be damned if I'm going to be around for that bastard to do something else to me," Eindride growled out. He bit his lip as he slowly tried to push himself up. "We're getting the fuck out of here."

"Are you sure you're okay to do this?" Chris stood up at the same time. It was obvious that he was still in a lot of pain, but not nearly as bad as it was before.

"I'm fine, listen, I'm gonna need you to tap into the supersoldier part of you, okay?" Chris nodded a little when Eindride looked at him. "I can use my magic to cancel out the magic in this building, but only little bits at a time. I'll need you to use some of the strength to break some glass, and break open doors."

"Hey, whatever you need, we'll get out of here." Chris took off his jacket and started to wrap it around his arm. "This one first?" He tapped the glass separating them. Eindride nodded as he put his hands on the glass.

"Once we start breaking shit we're gonna have to run." The two cousins locked eyes for a second before Eindride's hands started to glow red. Chris licked his lips as he waited. When he felt the change in the air, subtly, he saw Eindride take a step back and Chris drove his covered elbow into the glass, smashing it into dozens of pieces and stepping through immediately. Eindride was already putting his hands on the glass between them and the hall.

Chris had wrapped an arm around Eindride's waist as he took off running down the hall, knowing he would be faster even if Eindride wasn't recovering from whatever had hit him a few hours before. His hands were already glowing as they approached the door to the stairs and Chris's leg was up and coming down on the door handle, shattering the edge at the lock, and they were running up the stairs.

The door to the first floor was already opening before they reached it and Eindride moved behind Chris on the stairwell. He put a barrier in front of Chris when he felt the magic of the robed men that were coming for them. Chris had one foot on a different step and grabbed the first man who approached them and pushed him back. Three of them hit the ground from the sudden balance upset on the steps. Two more men was jumping over them and Chris was already shoving them over the railing.

Chris picked up Eindride, tossing him over the three trying to get up, and vaulted over them with the help of the railings. "That was pretty cool," Eindride murmured and Chris rolled his eyes as they started to run again. Kicking another door down they found themselves back in Gjinir's office again. "Hang on," Eindride said as Chris headed for the exit.

"What? We don't exactly have time, if you hadn't noticed," Chris let out a sigh as Eindride headed for the large armoire. "What are you doing?"

"I think there's something in here that can help us possibly get back home," Eindride said as he broke through the magically lock. "I could feel it when we walked in, there are some powerful artifacts in here, and I think I can use them." He opened the door and saw amulets, pendants, and small artifacts that were practically glowing with power. "Jackpot."

The two turned when they heard some clapping behind them. Chris turned his body in a defensive position in front of Eindride. "Very well done," Gjinir was walking towards them. "I obviously underestimated you two. So, who sent you hear? I've never encountered anyone with powers and abilities as you two."

"If you just leave us alone, you'll never have to encounter us again," Eidnride told him as he grabbed a couple of pendants. He quickly slipped one over Chris's neck and one around his own. "We're just trying to get back home, and we want nothing to do with you anymore." He grabbed one of the smaller crystal orbs and let his magic start to fill it.

Chris took a step forward to stop Gjinir when the man hadn't stopped moving. "Although, I wouldn't be adverse to giving you a few broken bones before we leave."

"You didn't strike me as an overly violent man," Gjinir told him, looking him up and down. "But I also didn't peg you as an Asgardian, and I suppose that's how most Asgardians are raised."

"Too bad you're wrong on both accounts." Chris threw a punch and caught the man by surprise. Gjinir rubbed his jaw a little, clicking it back into place and smirked a little, his eyes starting to glow. Chris frowned and took a step back. "Anders?"

"Give me a second," he was focused on the orb in his hands, trying to get the magics to work together and do what he wanted.

"I don't think we have a second, I think I pissed him off." Eindride's head popped up when he felt the crackle of magic. Eindride sunk more of his magic into the crystal and felt the spell activate.

Gjinir lashed his arm out and Chris went flying back into Eindride. His hand started to glow an ugly yellow, the power wisping around his hand like a murky liquid. Eindride recovered first and looked up, eyes widening a little when he saw it being directed at Chris. He shoved the crystal in Chris's hands, shoving him back and down as Gjinir released the spell. 

* * *

Steve and Alex turned the corner and he didn't even give a second glance at the bell ringers in front of the stores. The only thing he could think about was how happy he was that it wasn't christmas back home. And if he returned back and it was Christmas, he might have a break down. It had been several hours and as they made their way through the city they were assaulted with the sounds of the upcoming holiday. Steve usually wasn't one to hate a holiday, least of all Christmas, but right now it was not what he needed.

Glancing back he saw that Alex still working on the candy cane he had been given when they stopped to get a quick meal, but it looked like he sucking on it to tune out all the bells and christmas music, to keep his sanity really. Steve couldn't blame him at this point.

As the two passed an inflatable penguin a music box started to play. There was suddenly a pop and air was hitting Steve's face, eyes wide. Alex had suddenly pulled the candy cane from his mouth when the music had started and stabbed the exact center of the penguin head, centimeters from Steve's face.

"What the hell was that!" Steve exclaimed and looked at Alex. He looked back at the penguin and noted that the music was off, and he swore he saw sparks from the penguin as it deflated into a sad puddle of plastic and paint. "Did you just stab the music box with a Candy Cane?!"

"I've been working it into a point in my mouth," Alex said with a deadly calm. He pulled his candy cane back and Steve looked at it. The end was most certainly into a point that even Clint would have used for his arrows. "I can not stand that song anymore." Steve stared at the Asgardian for a few more second in shock before closing his eyes slowly.

"I actually kind of wish I had thought of that first," he mumbled under his breath and they started walking again. They didn't get very far when there was another loud pop and something heavy was barreling into them. The air was forced out of Steve's lungs when he felt elbows and legs moving.

"Anders, come on Anders." Steve blinked at the sound of the desperate voice. He could hear someone panting, hyperventilating, and trying not to cry out in pain.

"Chris?!" It was Alex who had sat up first and saw what had hit them. Steve pushed himself up and saw that Chris was on the ground, holding onto Eindride's hands to keep them away from his face. Steve's eyes widened when he saw the red skin around his eyes, yellow smoke disappearing in the air.

"What happened?" Steve moved without a second thought, putting his hands on Eindride's shoulder to keep him from thrashing. Eindride let out a high whine as he tried to turn his head but Alex had put his hands on his lower cheeks.

"We were trying to get out, and we got cornered," Chris said his voice shaking a little. "I don't know what was going to happen, but there was a spell, and he pushed me down, and it hit his face."

Eindride gasped for air when he tried to close his eyes, back arching up in pain. "Make it stop, please just make it stop," he pleaded. "Make the pain stop!" Chris closed his eyes tightly. Steve looked down at his eyes, feeling a knot in his chest when he saw that they were red and starting to cloud over.


	9. Chapter 9

**A****/N: I have this problem where I like to make some characters uncomfortable... I'm not seeking help for it. :)**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

It didn't take long for someone to call emergency services when they heard Eindride shouting on the sidewalk. An ambulance and police were rolling up before the four could react to get out of there. It took even less time for the police to recognize Steve and call in more police, thinking that perhaps someone had tried to attack him.

"I'm going with him," Steve told the paramedics as they put Eindride on a stretcher, having had to sedate him. Alex had an arm around Chris's shoulders as he watched his cousin.

"Sir, if-" Steve shot a look at the officer that started to speak.

"I'm going with him. They need to come too," he pointed back to Chris and Alex. "Escort them with us, please." He didn't give the officer a chance to respond as he climbed into the ambulance. He grabbed Eindride's hand as the bus started to move and watched him as the paramedics started to work.

At the hospital they made Steve wait in a waiting room, but hospital security had cleared it out for him, the door only opening when Chris and Alex walked in. Steve wrapped his arms tightly around Chris, holding onto the upset man. Steve didn't know what had happened but it must have been bad for Chris to hold Steve like he was a little boy again.

"It's okay," Steve sussed into Chris's hair. "They'll give him something to stop the pain."

"It's my fault," he said quietly and Steve frowned. "It's my fault it happened, I was just so angry."

Alex walked over and took one of Chris's hands and he turned his head a little to look at him, tears in his eyes. "Did you want something like that to happen?" Chris shook his head quickly. "Then this isn't your fault. Laying blame and guilt is attested to those with a pre-meditation to cause harm, physical or emotional. So whatever happened, unless you did it with the intention of provoking a reaction to hurt him, it is Not your fault."

Chris nodded once and Alex kissed his head. Steve let Alex take Chris and watched them for a minute. There were times that Steve wanted all his kids to stay five years old, to always need him and Gabby around, but he knew that couldn't happen, and as he watched his son he could see that Alex could give Chris a comfort that he couldn't. And somewhere inside it reminded him that he missed Gabby and needed to find her.

"How did you two find your way here?" Steve asked several minutes. They had all sat down, Steve across form the boys.

Chris pulled out a crystal from his pocket and the pendant from around his neck. The crystal had a crack in it now and was dim. "Eindride was somehow able to use this. I'm not sure, but we were in some place where the whole city practically ran on magic."

"As Loki's son he'd have at least an intermediate knowledge of mage-craft," Alex commented. "That would be enough to make something up."

"He has a pendant on too, so we shouldn't let them take that," Chris said and Steve nodded. "Why did we get the special treatment earlier?" He looked between his dad and boyfriend.

"This might make you feel a little better," Alex smiled a little. "The Steve Rogers in this place is President." Steve groaned and Chris turned wide eyes to him. As if on cue there was a knock at the door and it opened. They all blinked when they saw the man step in, raise his sunglasses, eyebrow raised, in jeans a suit jacket.

"Tony?" Steve stood up, trying not to be surprised.

"You are so eerily like him, it's a little creepy," Tony said as he walked in, the door closing. "But, seeing as I just talked to the President about five minutes ago, I know it's not you." Steve didn't move or back down as Tony walked over to him. "You even act like him."

Steve glanced down at Tony's chest and Tony raised an eyebrow. "You were able to have the arc reactor removed?" Tony raised both eyebrows now. "This might sound weird, it might not, but we're from a different, time?"

"Universe," Chris tried to supply helpfully. "Dimension really."

"Yeah, what he said. I am A Steve rogers, just not from here." He watched Tony take in what he said, probably trying to decide if they should be arrested or not. "We didn't come here on purpose, we didn't want to draw any attention to ourselves."

"So, who's this?" He motioned to Alex and Chris. "The blonde one looks like you."

"That's my son, Chris," Steve filled in. If they could get this Tony Stark on their side he could be able to help. "And his boyfriend, Alex." Tony snorted and let out a laugh.

"Sorry, sorry, that's just a little funny. Captain America's son shacking up with-" he coughed at the glare sent his way from the three people in front of him. "Right. Anyway, what about the kid they brought in here? Another son? Maybe-"

"Your son from my dimension." Steve bit back his smirk at the way Tony shut up. "I'm waiting for the doctor's, he was in a bad way." Tony frowned a little at the thought.

"So, where you're from, I have a son?" Tony shuffled his foot a little as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "And you're not President?" Steve nodded.

"You have four other kids, as well. Two girls and three boys," Steve told him. "I have four kids, and my wife is pregnant with another."

"Five kids? Holy shit." Tony's eyes had widened a little. "Here I said I'd never get married, but apparently I'm a freaking family man. So is there some gorgeous blonde on my arm giving me all these kids?" All three men snorted and Tony frowned. "I don't like that answer."

"No, not a blonde," Steve shook his head. "Black hair, actually."

"Still, hot, right?" Tony pressed.

"Well, you obviously thought so," Chris told him. "Else you wouldn't have gotten married." Tony shrugged and nodded, agreeing. There was another knock at the door and a doctor walked in, and Steve was instantly alert.

"How is he?" Steve asked right away.

"He's stable," the doctor told him, holding onto Eindride's chart. "We're running tests to see if we can identify what hit him, but it's looks magical in nature." Steve was a little surprised that they could tell that, but he had to keep reminding him that this was a different time. "The skin on his face seems to be healing on its own, so all we've done is apply an ointment, and we've given him some painkillers." She looked down at her clipboard a little before looking back up at Steve. "I'm afraid whatever happened, it's blinded him. There's nothing we can do about that, I'm sorry. But other than that, he's going to be just fine."

Steve nodded once, shocked. "Um, when can I see him?" He asked before she could walk away.

"In a little bit, he was just starting to wake up." Steve nodded and she left.

Tony licked his lips a little. "So, I'll smooth this all over," he said quietly. "I'll get Stark security down here, and when he's released you can stay at one my places here." Steve looked over at him and blinked. "You can't exactly go traipsing through the city while you try to figure out how to get home, you'll attract too much attention."

"Thank you." Tony shrugged a little.

"Can't imagine this is gonna be easy to tell the other me." He looked a the trio and left the room.

Steve took a breath. It wasn't going to be easy to tell Tony or Loki. He didn't think it was going to be easy for Eindride, but right now they needed to stick together. If they could him back to their home soon enough, maybe Tony and Loki would be able to do something. Tony had managed to bring back some of his own eyesight after all.

Chris had put his head in his hands and closed his eyes. He felt Alex's hand on his back, but it didn't make it any better. "This is going to tear him apart," he said quietly, but knew the other two heard him. He straightened up and swallowed. "He told me that he had recently changed majors in school. He wanted to work in restoring paintings," he said and rubbed his face. "He just went into Art and Art History, and he was really excited, loved painting and shit. Dammit."

"I'll go talk to him," Steve said and headed for the door. "It's a parent thing," he said back to Chris who had sat up. It didn't take long for Steve find Eindride's room and he walked in, making his footsteps a little louder than usual. The lights were dimmed and he was sitting up in the hospital bed.

"Hey, kid," Steve said when he got closer. "How are the drugs treating you?"

"Better than the last dimension," he said quietly. "But, this isn't home is it?"

Steve shook his head, then spoke. "Not yet, but we'll get there." They both sat there in silence for a bit, Steve waiting for Eindride to feel comfortable talking about it. He wouldn't push him.

"I wasn't a horrible child, was I?" Eindride asked quietly, surprising Steve. "I mean, I know Chris and I got into trouble a lot, and we tortured our siblings, but,... we weren't terrible were we?"

"Of course not," Steve said and moved up a little to put a hand on the young man's arm.

"It's just, it's hard to imagine why I deserve this." Steve wasn't expecting this line of thoughts. He wished he had asked Chris what else had happened. "My powers are more of a curse because they only seem to make me see and experience the worst in people's lives, and then I'm getting tortured just because of the way I was born, and now I can't see." There was a build up of tears, but he was trying not to cry. "I don't know what I did to deserve this, I'm only 22, I was just trying to protect Chris."

Steve leaned over and pulled the boy into his arms tightly. Eindride couldn't help it and started to cry silently into Steve's shoulder.


	10. Chapter 10

**A****/N: I have this problem where I like to make some characters uncomfortable... I'm not seeking help for it. :)**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony made sure the boys were tucked into the bed and shut off the lamp on the table. He moved some of the hair from their heads as he watched them sleeping. Howard had set them up in a hotel for the night while he ad Steve talked about some mostly likely him, and tried to come up with some sort of plan to help. Tony wasn't honestly sure what they were going to be able to do, but he wasn't about to turn down help for his boys.

Tony sighed and walked over to the window, looking out over the city that he thought he knew, but from a different time. He ran a hand through his hair and idly wondered if he shouldn't get it cut again, or at least trimmed. It was almost long enough to pull back into a ponytail, and that would only lead to teasing from the others. Tony pulled off his glasses and rubbed between his eyes, a shiver running down his spine.

When he put his glasses back on he frowned when he looked at the window, noticing that it was starting to frost over. He turned around then suddenly backed up, back against the window at the sight of someone right in front of him. A familiar someone.

"Loki?" Tony breathed out. A thin eyebrow arched over a crimson eyes when he said his name. It was indeed Loki in front of him, but he knew immediately that it wasn't his Loki. It wasn't the fact that Loki was in his Jotun skin that told him this, or the gold beads and jewels in his hair, the gold chains around his shoulders, and gold armbands.

"So it was you that was calling for me." Loki leaned in a little and seemed to inspect Tony. "Now, why would a mortal know my name, and be calling upon me? Do you truly know who I am?"

"You? No, but I know a version of you," Tony said quietly. Both of Loki's eyebrows lifted up. "You're too comfortable in this skin, you aren't my Loki."

"In this skin? Hmm, this is most interesting." Loki looked around then saw the twins asleep. He took a step closer and Tony reached out, grabbing his arm. Loki looked back at Tony, a glare in his eyes, and Tony hissed, pulling his hand back. "You dare touch a Prince of Jotunheim?"

Tony flexed his hand, trying to work the cold out of it. "I don't care who you are, not when you look at my boys."

"Tell me, who is the one that birthed them?" Loki glanced back over at the twins, but didn't move towards them. "Is it the other me that you lay claim to?" Tony kept his gaze when Loki turned back to look at him. "A mortal, claiming me as his to possess, now that it quite a feat. And do I bow down to you? Bend to your every whim and word?" Loki moved closer to Tony and he could feel the chill that followed Loki in his natural birthright.

"No," Tony said, not backing down. "There are only five that can get you to do anything close to that, and I'm not one of them. As much as you are mine, I am yours, of that I'm certain." Tony swallowed a little and leaned his hip a little more on the window sill when his vision blurred a little, a small heat starting in his chest.

Loki titled his head a little and watched him. "There it is again, you're calling out for me." Tony blinked a little. "I would ask why, but I think I know why. What I don't know is what would cause you to do so."

"I don't think that that is any of your business," Tony said, hoping that his words weren't started to slur. He needed to get rid of this Loki, who absolutely did Not scare him at all, and get back to the boys. "So, you've solved your big secret, you can go now, thank you."

"I'm not used to being talked to this way, especially by a mortal." Loki reached out and trailed two fingers down Tony's chest. Tony let out a breath, biting back any other kind of sound. He couldn't deny that the cold felt good, having Loki, any Loki, this close helped. "I can feel a power inside of you, and it reeks of me, but it isn't my powers. Why is that?"

"I'm from a different dimension, that's all you need to know," Tony told him, keeping his eyes open as the cold started to bring down the burning feeling.

"No," Loki smirked and Tony didn't like it. He put his hand flat on Tony's chest. "You need me here, any me, because if not there's a good chance that you could die. I don't care why there is Fae inside of you, why you are someone's Pet, but because your Master isn't around it's killing you. I'm not going to ask why another version of me is your Master, I don't care. What you should care about though, is that I can help you."

Tony frowned and tried to lean away from Loki's hand, but it didn't move. "If you don't care, then why are you offering to help me? You don't exactly strike me as the do something out of the kindness of your cold heart, kind of guy."

"Hmm, usually you're right," Loki hummed a little. "What I can offer is a way to stop the burning, to stop the dying, and what it'll give me is an end to your endless calling. I'll be able to get some peace since you've arrived. That will be your payment to me." Tony swallowed and studied him. "You can either agree, and save yourself, and me some pain, or I'll find another way to make you agree. Like perhaps your sons." Tony grit his teeth, tensing at the words. "Always the better choice."

Tony straightened up a little and felt Loki's hand chill against his chest. He tensed when he felt a knot of ice suddenly settle in his chest. The burning went away but a chill set throughout his body and bones, an unnatural chill. "What did you do?"

"Saved your life, for now," Loki said as he removed his hand and stepped back. Tony put a hand to his chest and rubbed at his chest. "I don't know the exact effects that my Jotuns powers will have against your Fae powers. It will either sit there, uncomfortably I might add, until you find your way back to your home, or it will slowly start to freeze your body and kill you that way. All I know is that I've bought you more time for your tiny life." Loki turned and started to walk away. "At last, your inner prattling has stopped. It was a pleasure removing you from my life." He disappeared and Tony let his knees take him down to the ground.

Tony flexed his figers, rubbing them against his palm, and looked over at the bed. "I'll get you home," he said quietly. "I promise. And when Daddy promises something, he means it." He looked down at his hands. "I just wish that he could promise to be there with when it happens."


	11. Chapter 11

**A****/N: I have this problem where I like to make some characters uncomfortable... I'm not seeking help for it. :)**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"Stay close," Loki told Gabby as they stepped into the woods of Alfheim. "I don't know what's going to happen here." Gabby bit her lip a little and nodded, staying close to his side. "I'll not have anything happen to you."

"I trust you," she told her Uncle and looped her arm with his. "We'll get what we need and get home to the others." Loki nodded a little and tightened his grip on her arm a little.

Loki moved in a general direction that gave Gabby a sense that he knew where he was going, but it seemed like moving in circles to her. There was a shift in the air and Gabby blinked a little but Loki kept moving. The trees seemed to shift in color ad Gabby knew that they must be getting where they wanted to go. That was confirmed when Loki moved her move behind him than next to him.

"In all my days, I never thought I'd see it." The voice floated through the trees and Loki stopped, but didn't react. "Another Loki here in my midst, and willingly coming to me. And what else do I sense? Are you-"

Loki growled a little and threw his hand out, releasing a spell. Gabby grit her teeth a little when she saw Gauton appear in front of them. "I'm not here for games," Loki said calmly. "You're going to let me know what I need to know, then I'm going to leave."

"Hmm, that doesn't sound like it ends well for me." Gauton started to walk side to side in front of the two. "Tell me why I should be so inclined, and not just trap you here in my domain?"

"Because if you do, then I won't have to kill you," Loki threatened.

"Yes, I heard about that," Gauton nodded and Loki stiffened when he turned a familiar smirk towards him. Gabby gasped when she was pulled away from Loki and he whipped his head around, eyes widening a little. Loki was staring at the very much controlled version of himself from this dimension. "There are a couple of problems with that threat, dear sorcerer. I'm not dead in this realm so I have more power, and I also have complete control over your counterpart."

Loki's hands opened and closed into fists and he slowly turned his head back towards Gauton. "Having two Princes under my control would be just too much to hope for, but here is the chance." He walked over to Loki and smirked, putting a hand on his cheek. "And you know that if you do anything, I'll kill the girl."

"What do you get out of this?" Gabby asked, trying to pull from the other Loki's arms, but his grip was too strong. "You can't keep both of them here, it'll be a little noticeable."

"You're only a little mortal, what-"

"I'm not just a mortal," Gabby interrupted him, glare set on her face. "I am the daughter of an Asgardian, I am a wife, and more importantly I'm a mother." Her foot twisted a little and she hooked her other ankle back and around Loki's knee before pulling up. Loki fell, taking her down with him. Rolling up she put her hands on the ground when a hand wrapped around her ankle.

She was pulled up and saw her Uncle pulling her back and kicking his counterpart in the chin. Loki growled, hands starting to glow. "Don't touch her, Odinson," he hissed. Gauton's Pet chuckled and pushed himself up, hands starting to glow more brown, the color of Gauton's original powers.

"I've always wondered how strong I was." Loki frowned at the sound of his voice, lower, more rough. He wondered how long Gauton had kept control over him, had a spy inside of Asgard. "Shall we compare?" Odinson moved first and Loki moved just as quickly, dodging the first spell before releasing his own. He stretched his consciousness out to keep track of Gabby, sensing her run to take cover from the spells, and felt that Gauton hadn't moved. Good, if he was interested in the fight to keep Gabby safe, he'd put on a show.

Green sparked past his face and he spun around throwing a spell that frayed the end of Odinson's jacket. He grunted when his shoulder was hit and he was spun back almost losing his footing. He put his hands up and caught a fire spell aimed for his head and hissed when it touched his hands before he threw it to the ground. He brought his arm back, hand warming with a spell, ready to throw it when he suddenly froze. Loki's eyes widened when he couldn't get his body to respond.

"Please extinguish that spell," Gauton called out and the spell disappeared from his hand. "Now, let's see what we can't work out." Loki was only able to move his eyes, but he followed Gauton intently when he walked into view, dragging Gabby behind him. "I'm happy to see that my powers are deeply ingrained inside of you, made it that much easier to assume control over your body. As we speak I'm trying to work my way into your mind, disable your free will." Loki glanced over at Odinson, saw the brown in his usual green eyes. A spike of fear shot through his mind. If he couldn't start fighting Gauton now, he'd lose his mind and become worse than his Pet.

"What will you gain from this?" Gabby asked Guaton, trying not to pull away as the Fae pulled her closer. "It won't be easy to keep both of them here. They're already looking for us back in our dimension, and it won't be long before they find us. You can't send us back and still keep your hold on both of them, you'd have to let one go."

"You're a little too smart for your own good." Loki frowned as he watched Gauton grip her wrist, fingers glowing almost unnoticeable. "We'll have to keep a close eye you." Odinson walked over and took both of her arms as Gauton moved his way over to Loki. He smirked and pat Loki's cheek then kept a hold on the back of Loki's neck. "Let's add an extra pair of eyes to the guard, shall we?" Loki felt his body tense as he felt tendrils of Gautons magic weave into skin. "I love this part."


	12. Chapter 12

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Steve pulled out some plates from the cupboard of the penthouse kitchen that Tony Stark had had them escorted to after Eindride had been released two days later. Eidride had been sleeping most of the day and Steve was making himself busy in the kitchen as Alex and Chris watched over the man. Gabby called it his stress mechanism, baking and cooking.

He started putting some spaghetti on plates, spooning some sauce over the pasta. He glanced up, not stopping his movements, as Chris and Alex walked into the kitchen. Chris raised an eyebrow when he saw the dining table covered in muffins, cookies, and a couple of coffee cakes with different fruit fillings and a crumble topping.

"You've outdone yourself this time, Dad," Chris said as they took a seat at the bar stools at the island. "When we find our way back home I don't know if we'll be able to take all this with us."

"Shut it, kid," Steve said as he pushed two plates over to them. "You know it's a coping tactic, and you had a big sweet tooth when you were little."

"Had?" Alex raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. Chris shot them both a glare. "We won't have to worry about taking this back with us, unless we manage to get back home in the next hour."

"You're cruel to me," Chris pouted and Alex kissed his cheek.

"How is he?" Steve asked as he grabbed some glasses and a pitcher of water.

"Still sleeping, or at least appearing to," Alex told him. Steve nodded a little and grabbed a glass and a separate plate with a sandwich and some garlic bread.

"I'll bring him something to eat. Eat as much as you want, I made too much," Steve told them as he grabbed the plates, putting them on a tray and heading for the bedroom. When he reached the door Steve saw the lights were dimmed and Eindride was on his side, back to the door, appearing to be asleep.

He walked in, not as quietly as he could, but not making his footsteps too loud. "Brought some food, Anders." He saw the mans leg move a little. "You haven't eaten all day, you should have some dinner. It's better than the hospital food, that's for sure." He turned on the lamp by the bed so he could see some more and put the tray on a chair. "You up kid?"

Eindride let out a long sigh and nodded a little. "Yeah, I'm up." He started to rustle around before sitting up in the bed. Steve put the pillows up behind him and he leaned back against them and the headboard. "I'm not feeling particularly hungry right now, though."

"I know," Steve said as he grab the tray of food. "But you need to eat something, and I'm not leaving until you do." He put it over Eindride's legs. "There's a grilled turkey and swiss sandwich and a piece of-"

"Garlic bread, I can smell it," he said as he let his hand slide up, feeling the edge of the tray and the plate. "I can also smell all the baking you did out there." He grabbed the glass and took a careful drink. "I've been in here trying to get my powers to try and react to the spell, but I don't think it works anymore. The spell has become tangible, like acid being thrown."

"We're just going to take this one day at a time," Steve told him. "We'll get through this together, alright? There are resources that we can use while we're here, while we figure out a way to get back home and find everyone else." He watched as Eindride felt around the tray some more, trying to map out where everything was. "Maybe we can use the way you and Chris got here as a starting point."

"I don't know how far that will go," Eindride admitted. He reached over to the bed side table and grabbed a small crystal. "We used this, I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but now I can't use it again. It's cracked, it won't be able to hold any kind of magic or energy, and I'm not exactly sure how to fix it yet, There's a lot that I can't fix right now." His thumb rubbed over the crystal ball and Steve watched it react slightly to his touch.

"I wouldn't say that," Steve sat on the edge of the chair, watching how the crystal's center glowed dimly as Eindride touched it. "It's definitely reacting to whatever you're doing right now."

Eindride frowned a little. "I'm not doing anything right now. What's happening?" He sat forward and the crystal stopped glowing.

"Well, it was glowing, but not anymore. Can I see it?" He waited for his nephew to offer it up before he took it, rolling it around in his hand. He felt a faint buzz in his hand that started to dissipate, confirming that the crystal was damaged. "It holds your power rather easily, without any encouragement it seems. I think that if it can be fixed, then you can do it." He looked back up at Eindride then put the crystal back in his hand, covering it with both of his hands. "I know you don't think that your powers are all that great, not as strong as your Dad, but they're a force to be reckoned with on their own. Your power got you and Chris here, that's nothing to scoff at. I can't even begin to think about how you did that, but hell kid, that's one hell of a trick."

Eindride nodded a little and Steve swore he saw the corner of his mouth lift a little. Steve thought that maybe he could distract Eindride with a mission of some kind it would help him not focus on his missing sight. Eindride held onto the crystal for a second before putting in his lap. "So, this is turkey?" Steve smiled a little as he reached up to get the sandwich. 

* * *

Tony shivered a little then opened his eyes. He saw Tomas and Sander wrapped up in a blanket as they sat against his side. He glanced over and could see Steve watching them. Tony had called Howard, asking for a favor, to help him with an idea that he had to get home. He was getting colder and nothing was taking away the chill. There was a very thin tendril of sanity keeping Tony away from a complete break down of horrible memories.

The door opened tot he room and Howard walked in, taking off a lab coat. "Alright, what's this idea of yours?" Steve leaned against the door as he watched the two Starks.

"You're probably not going to agree, but it's the only thing I've got that could work. I need to see the tesseract." He could see Steve tense up. "Before you say anything, I've encountered the tesseract before."

"You know how it works?" Howard crossed his arms, eying him, wondering if he should have helped the man. "Because I'm finding that a little bit of an impossibility."

"I intimately know how it works. And I can use that knowledge to get me and my sons back home, and out of your hair." Tony rubbed Tomas and Sander's arms through the blanket and they giggled a little, cuddling more into the blanket. "You can watch me, record me, whatever. I just, I have a feeling this could work, and if it doesn't then you still get information about the tesseract."

Howard looked over at Steve who was frowning a little. The soldier sighed and rolled his eyes. "They're going to change the saying to Curiosity killed the Stark."

"Just one more thing named after me." Howard grinned at him.


	13. Chapter 13

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Chris sat across from Eindride on the bed, watching the crystal in his hands. "Any idea what you're doing?"

"None," the older man answered as he worked glowing fingers around the orb. "Is anything happening?"

"Yeah, it's glowing, something's happening," Chris nodded a little, glancing up at his cousin's glazed eyes. He couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt knowing that there was a high probability that he would never see again. "Turn it? I wanna see if the crack is gone yet." Eindride snorted a little and tossed it to him. Chris squeaked and grabbed it, almost falling off the bed. "I said turn it, not toss it!"

"I'm well aware of what you said," he smirked a little, looking like Loki. "It's easier to look at something if you're able to inspect it closer." Chris hummed in annoyance and looked at it. He could see the center glowing with Eindride's red powers and couldn't see a crack anymore.

"You've fixed it, that's for sure. It's even storing energy now. Is it supposed to do that?" He glanced up as Eindride shrugged. Chris blinked when it started to glow brighter. "Uh, it's getting brighter, I think something is happening." Eindride put his hand and Chris went to give it to him but it literally jumped out of their hands. Chris grabbed Eindride's arm and pulled him off the bed when it started to spark blue.

"What the hell is happening?" Eindride asked, frowning. "There's a different energy around it, I think someone is hijacking it."

"You don't think it's-" There was boom and Chris threw himself over Eindride as the energies flashed throughout the room.

"Chris! Eindride!" Steve and Alex ran in and Chris glanced up to see them at the door, but they were staring past him. "Tony?!"

"Uncle Steve!" Chris looked up as a pair of twin boys ran past them, hugging Steve. Chris looked over and saw that Tony had landed on the bed. He was looking a little pale and slow to push himself up.

"Dad?" Eindride blinked and sat up.

"Eindride?" Tony looked over and smiled. He slid down and pulled his older son into his arms, hugging him tightly. "Oh, I missed you." Eindride hid his face in Tony's neck and held onto him.

"Gods, Dad, you're freezing cold," Eindride murmured. "Where have you been?"

"Somewhere horrible," Tony mumbled. He pulled back to look at him, smiling, until he saw his eyes and the smile started to slip. "Eindride?" He let his hands travel up to his face, then looked over at Steve. "I see we're not the only ones who have been through some things. What's happened?"

Steve looked over at him, the boys holding onto his pant legs. 

* * *

Loki took a breath and tried to glare at Gauton. Tried. He hadn't been able to move for almost two days. He was exhausted from fighting Gauton's magic. Gauton moved over to the barrier that he had created around Gabby.

"How are you feeling today my girl?" Gabby shot him the glare that Loki wished he could and didn't say anything. "You must be getting hungry, yes? You need your nourishment for your child, do you not?"

Loki tried to take a breath, tried to gather a last wind. He had to get Gauton away from Gabby. He watched Odinson standing against a tree, watching as his Master circled his niece. Loki grunted when he felt something else tear at his mind, at his will power. It was a quickly losing battle. This was something that he hadn't encountered back when his version of Gauton had him. But he had also killed the Fae, this Loki must not have been able to figure out what was happening soon enough.

"Did you not teach her any manners?" Gauton looked back over at Loki and he tried to sneer, but he couldn't move his face. "It's rude to not answer questions, to not answer your elders." Gauton moved and bent his his knees so he was crouched behind Gabby. She found Loki's eyes but still didn't move. "Well, I suppose I can teach her. I taught you lessons, did I not?"

Gauton looked at Loki and smirked. He felt something shift painfully in the back of his mind and he clenched his eyes shut in pain. When he opened his eyes he was no longer seeing through his own eyes, at least not on his own. Everything seemed farther away, like he was looking through thick glass, like his consciousness was locked in a glass cell. He saw more than felt his body started to move, closer to Odinson, to watch what Gauton was about to do.

The barrier behind Gabby disappeared and she gasped a little when she fell back into Gauton's arms. One arm wrapped around her shoulders while his other hand settled on her stomach. Her eyes widened a little and she looked at Loki, eyes begging to help.

"You know, there is a distinct sense of irresponsibility inside of you," Gauton said in her ear. "If you can't make sure that you ask us for your needs, that you can't make sure that you take care of yourself for your babe, then perhaps you shouldn't be trusted to take on the responsibility of being a mother, again." His hand started to glow over her stomach and she gasped loudly. Her hands grabbed onto his and tried to push it away.

Loki was pounding at his mental cage, trying to break free, trying to get out. Gabby cried out and brought her knees up then stopped. Gauton tightened his grip on her shoulders, holding her still as she started to thrash her arms. "Shh, shh, it won't be as painful if you stop moving." She gripped his hand and he let her push it away as it stopped glowing.

Loki was forced to watch her break down, watch her cry, watch her go through the physical and mental pain of being forced through losing her baby. He growled inside and raged, trying to break through the glass. Loki promised to kill this man, promised to rip him to shreds, again.


	14. Chapter 14

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony rubbed the sides by Eindride's eyes and kissed his forehead. He could see his son try not to shiver and pulled his hands back, shoving them in his pockets to keep them from shaking with cold. "It's alright, when we get home I'll get J to check this out and we'll see what we can't do."

"It's alright, Dad," Eindride said quietly. "It's been about four days since this happened, I think I'm starting to get used to it."

"You used to be a better liar than this, Anders," Tony frowned a little. A tremor shook through Tony's arms and he let out a little sigh. "All we have to do is find Gabby and your father and then get home. The seven of us managed to find each other again, and in relatively one piece, so it can't be that much harder to get back home."

Eindride was quiet for a while before he glanced up at Tony, as a symbolic gesture really. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong with you? You can't stop shivering, you're radiating cold, and your voice isn't nearly as confident as it usually is." Tony licked his lips a little. "It's funny, you don't usually notice things like tonal inflections until that's about the only thing that you can use."

"Hey, hey hey hey," Tony moved forward until their knees were touching. "I know this looks bad, and it feels bad, I mean, I know what it's kind of like to be blind, remember?" Eindride nodded a little. "And I'm not gonna tell you that it's gonna be alright, cause this isn't like a broken arm. But I'm gonna ask you to do something for me." Tony reached out and took Eindride's hands. His hands started to glow red, trying to give Tony some warmth. "I want you to talk to me, okay? If you're feeling low, please come to me. I know what it's like."

Eindride furrowed his brows a little. "You mean after Dad had supposedly died?"

Tony nodded his head back and forth a little. "Yeah, I suppose that counts, as at least the most recent time. I had family to help me that time, but, um," Tony shook his head back and forth a little as he stuttered through. "I think I'm more or less referring to when I got the arc reactor. God, almost forty years later and it's still hard to think about. Anyway, not my point, my point is that I'm here, Steve is here, even Chris is here, if you ever need someone to talk to, alright?"

Eindride nodded a little and Tony squeezed his hands. He went to get up and Eindride tugged on his hands a little. "Don't think I didn't notice that you avoided my earlier question."

"Then I'm glad that your brain hasn't dulled along with your sight. I'll be back kid, I need to talk to your Uncle, alright?" Eindride nodded.

"I'll be able to hear if the boys wake up," Eindride said as he motioned back towards the bed where the twins were sleeping. "I got their back, I'm still their brother after all."

"And a damn good one at that." Tony ruffled his hair and smiled before leaving the room. He took a breath and shook out his hand once he hit the hall. He could smell a pot roast in the oven and knew that Steve was just getting started in his cooking. No time like the present to stop it before-

"Holy shit, Steve." Tony's eyes widened a little as he saw all the bowls on the cupboard, cookies dough on baking sheets, and what looked like some meatloaf and a couple pans of fresh baked bread. "How long have you been here?"

"In this apartment?" Steve looked over as he closed the oven door, putting the roaster on top of the stove. "About three days now. There was more here, but thankfully Chris is still a stress eater."

"Ugh," Tony plopped onto a stool and dropped his head back a little. "You stress cook, and he stress eats. How the hell does Gabby put up with you two?"

Steve hummed a little as he adjusted the temperature before putting another pan in the oven. "Gonna tell me how you managed to get to us? Something we can use to get back home and find Gabby and Loki?"

"Not unless you're on good terms with the Tony of this place, and possibly yourself-"

"I might be." Steve smirked when Tony stopped talking. "Anyway, go on."

"Right, well that's a possible story for later." Tony watched him as he started to mess with the food again. "Well, I found myself in another place and time, meeting my father, and you actually." Steve raised his eyebrows. "Two years after the war to be exact, and hey guess what, they found you! Surprise." He wiggled his fingers a little. "I mean that's not all I found out, I found out that my dad was a bit more of a jackass than I thought in the first place." Tony grit his teeth a little as another tremor ran through his body. "Hey, do you mind bringing that pot roast over here?" Steve raised an eyebrow but grabbed the oven pads to put the hot metal holder in front of Tony.

"Tony!" Steve yelled when he saw his friend put his hands directly on the container.

"Chill, Cap, I don't even feel it," Tony muttered. Steve stopped and stared when the bubbling broth suddenly stopped, immediately chilling. "Oops, you may have to put that back that back into the oven... Um, anyway, how I got back-"

"Wait, what the hell, Tony!" Steve looked at him. "You just grabbed a scalding hot container, didn't feel a thing and actually chilled it in a manner of seconds. Something else is happening."

"One story at a time," Tony took back his hands and tried putting them under his arms. "I used the tesseract. You know, knowing it intimately, I was able to pick up some of energies, and I guess I tapped into what Eindride was doing with the crystal, and found us here. Omg, the heat is one right? I mean it Is winter here, so the heat should be on."

Tony caught Steve's stare and blinked. "Tony... There's ice in your hair." Tony reached up and felt the slight crunch to his hair. "You're pale. Tony, what is happening." Tony closed his eyes as Steve pulled out the Captain America voice.

"I'm dying, again, I'm pretty sure," Tony said quietly. "Being so far away from Loki was killing me, literally burning me up from the inside, because of this Fae thing. The only relief I got was if I managed to tap into the twins powers, and it wasn't that much." More tremors started to run through Tony's body again, this time not stopping. "Another Loki came, one who is very much Prince of Jotunheim, and he tried to stop it from killing me, but now I'm dying of the ice of a Jotun." Tony dropped his head on the table, taking deep breaths, his brother coming out as fog. "Fuck, I'm so cold. Using the tesseract must not have reacted very well."

Steve moved around the island and grabbed Tony's arms. "Whoa, Tony, hang on. Let me make a call, I can get someone here to help. This place is different, they can work around magic, some of it." He helped Tony stand up even though he could feel the cold through his clothes.

"Hey, Cap, Steve, Rogers, listen, I need you to make me a promise to me," Tony looked at him, putting a hand on Steve's arm. "I promised the twins that I would get them back to Loki and back home. Make sure the Loki gets to see Eindride, do all that he can to try and help him. And tell them I tried, but obviously, I'm just no good on my own."

"Tony," Steve frowned. "I ca-"

"Dammit, Rogers," Tony's teeth started to chatter his words starting to slur. "Promise me. Look after my kids until you get them home." Steve stumbled a little when Tony's weight was suddenly in his arms as his knees gave out. "And ussse m'arc actor, still some essserac p'wr." He slumped against Steve's chest. "'M sorry."

"Dad?" Steve looked over as Eindride had walked into the room. "Dad, what's wrong? What's happening?" He cautiously hurried over and grabbed Tony's arm. Steve was taken back a little when Eindride's hand started to turn blue. "Dad, please."

"Sorry," Tony pat his cheek a little. "T'care of brothers."

"Hey, hey Dad, don't even think about it," Eindride shook Tony's arm. Steve had slowly lowered Tony to the ground. He watched a couple of tears hit Tony's cheek, saw them freeze. "What am I gonna do without you around? Who else is going to talk to me about what's happening? Who else is going to help me because they know what I'm going through? Dad, please, I still need you around, we all still need you around." He put his hands on Tony's chest as it started to move slower.

"Anders," Steve said quietly as he put a hand on his back as Tony's chest stopped moving.

"No," Eindride shook his head. "This is Jotun frost, right? Well, I'm half Jotun." Eindride's hands splayed out on Tony's chest. "I can take it out, I can save him, there's still time." Even Steve shivered as the temperature dropped in the room. Eindride's blue hands started to glow with his powers. Ice started to crackle around his hands and on Tony's chest, a blue glow starting around them both. He pulled up and Steve watched as he pulled out a small ball of ice. Eindride threw it against the wall and put his hands back on Tony's chest, his fingers going back to their pale color. "I'm not letting you go, not yet!"

A shock of red energy shot through Tony's body and his body arched up a little before he took a gasping breath. Eindride practically collapsed over Tony, fingers gripping his shirt, soft cries on his chest. "You can't leave me yet, not yet, please." Tony's hand slowly reached up and rested on Eindride's arm.


	15. Chapter 15

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Clint watched Lee feeding little Andrew in the kitchen. Emma had taken Bry to school and Clint had just gotten back from watching them. "You really are a little bird, aren't you?" Lee smirked a little as Clint walked in. Andrew waved his arms and giggled when he saw him. "Did you touch the ground once as you watched them?"

"The ground is for pussies," Clint slid up on the counter before Lee shot a look at him and he slid back off. "I see better from a distance."

"Uncle Clint is a bit of a weirdo, isn't he Andrew?" Le smiled as she handed him a bowl of blueberries.

"Yes," Andrew nodded and grabbed a blueberry.

"Oi, no fair," Clint pouted a little and Lee smiled. He watched her as she got up and moved around the kitchen. They had been there for a week, and Clint was feeling something weird, and he was just starting to put a finger on it.

Clint started to make lunch for him and Lee, or rather put what Lee had prepared for them into the oven. he couldn't blame her for thinking that Clint might possibly give them food poisoning with a meal that he might prepare. Lee had taken Andrew and was trying to put him down for a nap. Lunch should be done by the time she managed that.

Clint had grabbed some plates and was putting food on them and drinks in glasses when Lee came back out. "That child can be relentless," she sighed as she plopped into a chair. "Oh, hey, you did it right." She smirked as Clint rolled his eyes. "Maybe you aren't as hopeless in the kitchen as I thought, but I still can't imagine that there's much else than frozen dinners in your freezer." She leaned up to kiss his cheek when he put the plates down. "You even made a little presentation on the plate, and-"

"Let's move in together." Clint blinked when he listened to what he said. Lee's eyes widened a little and she looked over at him.

"I'm sorry, what?" She sat up a little and looked at him. "Do you mind repeating that?"

Clint cleared his throat a little and sat down before looking at her. "Uh, well, I said, let's move in together. Not my place, too small, too plain, I mean I hardly ever spend any time there. And i don't think your place is big enough, or even remotely close enough for all the trouble that this family around here ends up getting into."

"You want to look for a place together?" She was blinking fast as she took in his words. "Oh my sweet lord, you're serious, you want to get a place together."

"Isssss that not something that you want to do?" He asked slowly.

"Huh?" She blinked then shook her head a little and looked at him more clearly. "Oh, no, I mean yes! I want that, I want that very much!" She got up and took his hands. "You just caught me by surprise, it's not very often you take the big serious step in our relationship."

Clint pulled her into his lap and kissed her lightly. "I know this actually isn't exactly the best time to ask this, or talk about relationship stuff, what with the search still going on, but I just, it came out on it's own, cause there was no filter from my brain to my mouth-" He stopped talking again when she kissed him a little harder, smirking.

"You are so flustered, and it's kind of adorable." She pat his cheek and moved back to her chair. "It's not like we'll be moving in until after we find everyone. Don't worry about it yet, alright? You still have plenty of time to freak out some more."

"You're kind of insufferable, you know that?" She smirked a little at him.

"Sir? Ma'am?" JARVIS spoke up. "Mrs Anya Rogers is looking for you." They looked at each other before getting up and heading out to the living room. She turned to look at them, a tear in her eye.

"There's something unique to different dimensions," Anya started quietly. "No matter what dimension you're in at the time of death, when you die your soul goes back to your own dimension." Clint straightened a little. "Are you guys any closer to finding them?"

"Kaia and Nathan are still in the lab working, and Emma is still probing with her magic," Lee answered hesitantly.

"What happened, Anya?" Clint asked her. She looked at them with watery eyes.

"Two twin girls just came to my realm," she said slowly. "The twins that my mom was pregnant with." Lee put a hand on Clint's back. "You guys have to find them, something is very wrong."

* * *

Loki blinked slowly as he watched Gabby sleep. He could tell it was uncomfortable, the only place for her on the ground, pain probably still aching through her body. His body was sitting against a tree as the sun started to come up over the trees.

"She should probably get back to your dimension." Loki didn't move when he heard the voice around him. "Human miscarriages are quite picky things aren't they?"

"Get out of my head," Loki growled out. "I'm going to kill you, it's just a matter of when."

"When?" Gauton laughed. "This I would like to see." He saw an image of Gauton walk in front of him. "I have complete," Gauton reached out and Loki's arm twitched a little in pain, "and utter control over you." He grasped at something and pulled his arm in and Loki made a noise stumbling a little. "Even in here, I can cause you pain. Let's access all your little memories of me, shall we?" The space around them went dark before it started to light up again. "I've always wondered what another me would be like."

Loki saw the forest, similar to where they had just been, but he knew where it was, when it was. There was panting as someone ran through the woods, a teenage someone with black hair. Loki tried to turn his head away but the images of his past were all around them. Even if he closed his eyes he would be able to see it. These moments had haunted him for years.

Loki had tripped to the ground and skidded forward a little. He quickly rolled onto his back and threw his arms out, arching his back as he started to whimper. "Now this seems familiar to me. I remember doing the same thing to your counterpart." A slightly younger looking Gauton stepped out of the woods and over to the teen. He crouched down and put a hand on Loki's chest, causing him to cry out once.

"The more you fight it, the more it hurts," he said to the boy on the ground. "Right now is that moment of no return, it's the moment that my magic takes hold, integrates itself with your being." He grabbed Loki's wrist and held up his hand. His fingers had been flashing gold with power. "This is where my magic will become one with yours." His fingers started streaking with green. "Oh, my dear sweet Prince," Gauton smirked. He let his hand drop down to Loki's cheek, rubbing it gently. Loki let out a loud cry of pain before letting his body collapse into stillness, still panting. "Let me take care of you now."

The image blurred out and Loki was aware of his fists shaking. "You know," the present Gauton walked over to him. "You know, in my time line, I did take care of you, very well. So much so that it wasn't that much of a battle when I took your free will." Gauton grinned as he approached Loki's cage. "My faithful Pet, Servant, and Companion, in every way. I can only imagine why your mortal doesn't want to let you go, and there's no surprise how you managed to have 5 children." He laughed when Loki suddenly lashed out, punching the glass wall. "Yes, I can see the energetic similarities."

"I'm going to kill you, but just enough so that when the AllFather finds out what you've done, he'll make your punishment so severe-" Gauton just raised an eyebrow as he walked closer.

"And release the poor boy from his bonds? Is that what you intend on doing?" Gauton tilted his head a little. "Do you know how long he's been with me, under my control? Over a thousand years. What do you think he's going to be like when his free will is restored? When you let him out of his mental prison? He has been fighting me as long as you have, he gave up a long time ago."

Loki stared at the Fae as he started to circle Loki's cage. If it was true then Odinson would have to be treated very gently, very carefully, for a long time. It would be like releasing a scared animals that had been beaten for years, and telling it that it could return to it's previous life. He probably didn't remember much of any other life, orders and obedience would be too far ingrained. But that didn't mean that there was no hope. Loki was still Loki, no matter what. He had to trust that if his family in this time would listen to why Loki acted the way he did, that they would try to help him.

"No, I don't believe that," Loki said to the Fae. "I don't give up, I never stop fighting, not in any dimension. I only plot, and I wait. You will pay for everything that you've done, and I will take great satisfaction in watching you burn." Gauton tried not to frown watching him but Loki caught the slight turn of the lips.

Gauton turned to walk away, but slowed a little. "She started to bleed while she slept, I hear that happens when humans lose their babies." He started to walk again, image starting to shimmer. "Oh, and by the way, it was twins." Loki slammed his already damaged hand against the glass wall, closing his eyes. His mind was made up, and he had to move.


	16. Chapter 16

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"I swear, if you ever try give me the 'Take care of my family' speech again," Steve growled out to Tony as he washed his hands. Tony smirked a little from the couch where he had one arm around Eindride who was pressed into his side.

"I would take that seriously if you weren't washing flour off of your hands after making yet another loaf of bread and a batch of banana muffins at the same time." Tony yawned a little. His body was exhausted, trying to recoup all the damage the frost had done and get his energies back into a sort of balanced state. Eindride was with him partially to keep his Fae powers from acting up again, and because he wasn't ready to leave Tony's side yet.

"Anthony." Steve turned to look at him with a frown. Tony just smiled and ran his hand through Eindride's hair.

"You're so adorable when you growl all protective like, Cap." He grunted a little when Eindride pushed his chest.

"You shouldn't antagonize Captain America, Dad," Eindride murmured softly, but Tony could hear the slight smirk.

"I live on the edge. Almost a hundred years old now and I'm not slowing down." Tony closed his eyes and pressed his head into the pillow. "Do not take the present moment into consideration, these are special circumstances."

"He must be getting better," Steve muttered. "He's cracking inappropriately timed jokes."

"I miss the sass-master Steve Rogers," Tony commented and Steve just rolled his eyes. "I know he's around somewhere."

"Sass dies when there's responsibility to be had." Tony's head popped up when he heard a familiar voice enter the room. Looking over he blinked a couple of time, then just stared. "Trust me, Rogers here is the same way."

"Good god, I look old. Do I look like that?" Tony looked over at Steve when the current dimensions Tony Stark walked into the room. "Cap, tell me I don't look nearly that old. There's no gray yet, right?"

"I get my gray from political world leaders," Stark responded. He glanced over to the kitchen then frowned a little. "What the hell happened in there?"

"Steve is a stress cooker. What does yours do?" Tony could feel Eindride roll his eyes against his chest and tried not to smile. "You're going to eat well for a week at least when we leave." Tony ran his hand up and down Eindride's back in an unconscious motion. Stark and Steve noticed though. "What?"

"My god, I really have turned into a family man, haven't I?" Stark looked at Steve who just nodded. "Please tell me I'm not domesticated."

"That is a filthy word," Tony hissed out.

"And completely true," Eindride murmured.

"Two girls, three boys," Steve told the other Stark.

"Oo! There are pictures in my wallet, hang on." Tony moved his body a little and Eindride complained when he was jostled around. He rolled his eyes and pulled out his wallet before tossing it to Steve. "You know where they are, show off my brood!"

"Did you just call us a brood?" Eindride shifted back into a comfortable position when Tony stopped moving. "You know that doesn't exactly fit, right?"

"You and your siblings are my brood, I don't care what anyone says." Eindride snorted and shook his head. "Anyway, the oldest is Kaia, and that is her husband Nathan, but there were still dating in that picture." Tony knew what pictures were in what order as Steve showed them, rolling his eyes good naturedly. "The next picture is their engagement picture, and then the picture from their wedding. Then-"

"Whoa," Stark grabbed the stack of pictures when Steve had gotten to the wedding picture. "This was taken at their wedding? So... Why is Loki in this picture? And smiling, and happy, and looking oh so very much like a genetic donor to this child?"

"Oh, am I completely straight in this dimension?" Tony leaned his head over a little to look at Steve. "Is that what's happening? Am I giving myself a stroke? Cause not gonna lie, that would be kind of fun, and horrible at the same time." Steve sighed and rubbed between his eyes. "Loki is in fact the other parent of all my children, and is my husband." Tony proudly held up his hand to show off the ring. "What's Loki like here?"

Stark looked at Steve before looking back over at his older self. "Well, he's the King of Jotunheim, and a pain in the ass to deal with at dinner parties, let me tell you."

"Awesome, another Jotun Loki. Do me a favor and keep this one away from my chest." Tony's hand was now rubbing circles at the base of Eindride's neck. "I think our wedding pictures are at the end of the picture slide show."

"Why are they at the end?" Eindride asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Isn't it obvious? Kids always go first in the wallet," Tony grinned. "Isn't that right, Cap?"

"It's true," Steve shrugged a little. "My wedding picture is after Andrew in my wallet."

"See, now shush child of mine." Tony shifted just to make Eindride move again and annoy him. "So anyway, after Kaia is Emma, that is Loki's little clone in every way. Then there's this little shit here that's attached to my side." Eindride elbowed his side a little. "Then the newest ones, of which we need to get pictures of, Tomas and Sander, the twins."

"Speaking of, they're waking up," Eindride told him. "Chris and Alex are still asleep in the room and they're trying to be quiet."

"Yeah sure, like five year olds will ever be quiet," Tony smirked a little. "Apparently the twins are my little clones. They probably woke up when the smelled everything that Cap was cooking."

"I'll get some plates started." The notion of being in the kitchen again had Steve moving before anyone could blink. It wasn't a second later that the thumping of little feet were running down the hall, stopping abruptly.

"He looks like Daddy," a little voice whispered behind the couch and Tony snorted a little.

"But that's not Daddy," a second voice whispered.

"Daddy's on the other side of the couch," Tony spoke up. He was watching Stark's face when he had saw the twins. First was shock that there were twins that looked just like him, then the realization that A Tony Stark had kids and was a family man, then his features softened a little when he saw how they ran around the couch and climbed up to attach to Tony and Eindride. "What are you two munchkins doing up? It's still really early."

"We smelt food," Tomas told him, wiggling a little into the little cranny created when Eindride wrapped an arm around him. He was snuggled between his Daddy and his older brother now and was content.

"And Chris and Alex had started to snore," Sander said as he snuggled into Tony's other arm. "Daddy, do you have a twin too?"

"Hmm, wouldn't that be nice," Tony chuckled but shook his head. "No, I don't have a twin. Remember when I tried to explain that last time we were in a strange place, that was like home, but it really wasn't home?"

"You said that things were all messed up," Tomas nodded as he answered.

"Well, this is another one of those places, just a pit stop before we get back home. And here there's another me." Tony explained, running his hand through Sander's hair. "He's cool though, he's trying to help us get home, and to find Dad." The twins nodded, satisfied with the explanation before jumping up and running into the kitchen to get food from Uncle Steve. Tony and Eindride both grunted when little knees and elbows had prodded them when they got up. "I lied, maybe I am getting too old for this."

"I'm only 22 and I'm too old for this." Eindride muttered and both Tony's snorted at that.

"Speaking of old," Tony turned a grin to his counterpart. "You wouldn't happen to be able to get your hands on the tesseract, would you?"

Stark frowned and looked at him. "Why would you need that? Last time someone had it they kind of used it to try and win a world war."

"Yeah, same thing happened in our time. Don't worry though, totally peaceful purposes," Tony said as he held his hands in peace. "My arc reactor has found a way to process the power of the tesseract, and I found out that it can work in tandem with Eindride's spells, and that can possibly get us back home."

"You're sure?" Stark asked, a little skeptically.

"Positive, it's how I got here with the boys. Quite on accident, but I think now that we know What to do, we can figure out the how," Tony explained. His fingers started to snap a little out of nervous habit. "I just, we gotta find Loki and Steve's wife Gabby, and get home." Stark watched him for a second before nodding a little.

"Let me see what I can do, what channels I can move through."

"Channels? Do we do things the right way here?" Tony frowned a little.

"You do when Steven Rogers is President of the United State," Eindride murmured and grinned. Tony blinked then started to laugh, loud and long.


	17. Chapter 17

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Balder sat next to Bry, staring with a frown at her math book. "Now, here's the problem," he started as he leaned back a little, crossing his arms over his chest. "This makes no sense."

The pre-teen looked at her granpa and raised an eyebrow. "Do they have math on Asgard?"

"Well, yes, they do," he nodded. "But I actually attended college here before your mother was born, and I learned college level math." Balder looked over at his granddaughter. "It didn't look like this."

"Granpa," she turned to look at him a little. "Mom is like, way old." Balder raised an eyebrow at her. "So the math you learned was probably what I learned last year."

"I resent that," Balder mumbled and looked back at the math book. "I'm a Prince I'll have you know."

"And my Dad's a superhero, you're not winning any points with me." She grinned and went back to her homework.

"If you weren't of my blood," Balder grumbled.

"Torturing again, are we Uncle Balder?" Emma walked by and smirked a little.

"Much like the other way around," he told her. "Were any of the spell books of any help in Asgard?" She sighed a little and shook her head.

"No, but I've got a lead of where to look next. Are we still on good terms with Frey in Alfheim?" She asked and Balder just raised an eyebrow.

"After driving away Gauton and saving his Realm, we are," he nodded. "Do you plan on going there by yourself?"

"Not yet, but it's a thought. I'll be sure to let know." He nodded a little and watched ruffle Bry's hair before heading back down the hall.

Bry fixed her hair then tapped her pencil a little. "We're going to get them back, right?" She asked quietly and Balder looked at her. "I mean, it's been a while."

Balder took her hand and hugged her. "We're gong to find them, do not worry. We are examining every possibility that we have, we just want to make sure that we get it right." She nodded a little and leaned against him. Balder rubbed her back and tried not to sigh. 

* * *

Both Starks stood around the glass container holding a familiar blue cube. "You're sure about this?"

Tony shook his head. "Not in the least. But that's the fun of it, isn't it?" Stark grinned a little. "Ready for a little fun?"

"Always." Stark had set up JARVIS to record his interactions, as he was probably recording Eindride's interactions with the crystal. Tony was going to test the power of the tesseract here, store a little energy and then try to establish a connection.

Tony took a breath and lifted the glass up before rubbing his fingers against his palms and picking it up. He let out a breath as he felt the power from the cube in his hands again. "It's so familiar, and frightening at the same time." His arc reactor seemed to glow as he brought the tesseract closer to his body.

"So, the power source for the arc reactor is similar to that of the tesseract?" Stark asked as he circled his counterpart.

"The energy readings are similar," Tony corrected him. "Usually the reactor would reject anything else, but because they're so similar it simply stores the energy, treating it like a battery recharge."

"That can't be safe," Stark frowned a little and watched Tony's fingers start to pull power from it.

"I've done this a couple of times, none of the experiences were too pleasant," Tony agreed. "At one point it almost killed me." Tony stopped for a second and looked up at Stark. "You know, I've almost died a lot in the past 30 years. This should concern me."

"Should, but when we get yelled at for being reckless it makes us want to be more restless." Both Starks nodded at this, agreeing. Tony was glad that this dimension's Tony Stark was so agreeable. "So, can I ask a few questions while you're doing this?"

"Yeah, sure, this is going to take a few minutes," Tony shrugged a little.

"I can't help but watch you with the boys." Tony glanced up at Stark. "It's a little weird seeing, basically myself, acting like a father."

"Preaching to the choir, trust me," Tony told him. "I was scared shitless when I found out that I was going to be a father. I mean the fear of turning out like Howard was crippling, but I had Loki around, and surprisingly Thor was pretty insightful."

"I knew he was hiding something." Tony snorted a little.

"It's no secret that I would do anything for my kids, no exceptions," he continued, looking at the reactor. "And I do mean anything."

Stark nodded a little and thought for a second. "What went through your head when you found out that your son was blind?"

"Panic," Tony answered right away. "I was blinded in my left eye a few years ago. I managed to bring back about a third of my sight, but am now forever gifted with a really thick lens, so I knew kind of what it was like. But then I thought, no, I don't know what it's like, because I just lost sight in one eye, the other still worked. He wasn't that lucky, he was blinded in both eyes, and he didn't have the luxury of passing out right away." Tony let out a shaky sigh. "I'm not going to lie and say that it doesn't tear me up inside, I mean, my son is blind, and I wasn't there to save him. Do I feel guilty? Yeah, of course. I'm his Dad, I should have been there, I should have been able to get there sooner and help him."

Tony took a breath and set the tesseract back down, blue lines of power shooting down his arm and into the arc reactor in his chest. "Am I ashamed? Will I think any less of him? Hell no. He's still a Stark, and he's already managed to save my life and help me find my way here. He loses one sense, and makes the others stronger." Tony looked up at Stark. "He's my first born son, he's the perfect mixture of Loki and me, and I couldn't be prouder of him no matter what. Sometimes I wish I told my kids that more often- Oph!" He almost fell over the table when a pair of arms wrapped around his chest from behind. He blinked and rubbed the arms as Eindride leaned against his back.

"We know, Dad," Eindride mumbled into his shirt. Tony managed to turn around in his arms so he could hug him, too. "We know how much you love us."

"Alright eavesdropper," Tony said as he rubbed Eindride's back. "Why did you run out? I was having a sappy moment, but hadn't said anything that warranted this reaction yet."

Eindride pulled back a little and Tony frowned a little. "I, I should have told you last year... I changed majors at school," he said softly. Tony blinked but raised an eyebrow. "I'm not in Engineering anymore."

"Oh, well... Okay?" He rubbed Eindride's arm a little, seeing how hard this was for him. Did he think that Tony would be disappointed that he gave up following in Tony's footsteps? "Fair deal. Wish you would have talked to me about it, but it's your future. So what's your major now?"

"Was," Endride murmured and Tony caught it. "Art and Art History... I wanted to working on restoring paintings, an Art Conservationist." Tony blinked and just caught his jaw from dropping, understanding why it was hard for him right now. "I should have told you," he admitted quietly.

"Christ," Tony muttered before pulling his son tightly into his arms. "I'm so sorry, god I'm sorry. I should have been there for you, I should have-" Eindride shook his head to cut him off.

"If you had been there, then the twins would have been there." Eindride wiped at his eyes as tears had formed. "It would have been way to dangerous, and I'd never forgive myself if anything had happened to them."

Tony kissed his forehead and rubbed the back of his head. "When we get home I'm going to do anything we can to try and fix this. If I can see form my left eye, then you will be able to see." Eindride shook his head a little, but smiled in his tears a little as he his Dad promised him the sky. No matter what the outcome, he knew that at least he had the best family around.


	18. Chapter 18

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Nathan slid across the floor as he ran up to the floor they had been occupying for the past week. "I think I've got some good news." Kaia, Emma, and Clint looked up when he ran in. "I've managed to isolate the energy signature that was used in the spell, and I think that I'm able to replicate it."

"And does that mean that you're able to reverse the spell?" Clint raised an eyebrow. Nathan shook his head.

"No, that means I'd have to actually have magic that works worth a damn," Nathan shrugged a little. "What it means is that I can reproduce the energy signature, and make it act like a homing beacon. So if they've managed to find a spell or some way to try and get back this will be here to guide them."

"What if I add a little magic to it?" Emma turned to fully face her brother in law. "Do you think that would help?"

"It couldn't hurt to be honest," Nathan told her. Kaia smiled at her husband and he got a goofy little grin when he looked at her.

"Still disgusting," Clint rolled his eyes. Nathan snorted and moved towards the living room where the most space was and set a little silver plate down on the ground. He seemed to tap a pattern into it then stepped back.

"Alright, it's all set. In about a minute the energy will start to build up," he turned to look at the others. "Emma, you can-" he yelped when there was a large build up of static energy behind him,, and he ducked down and covered his head.

"Nathan?" Kaia jumped up first as he tried to get away quickly.

"Okay, that shouldn't be happening." Kaia wrapped an arm around his waist as they could see electric shocks in the air.

There was a large crackle and suddenly a small group of bodies was falling on Kaia and Nathan. "That's my elbow!" "That's my rib!" "That's not exactly funny little man." "It kind of is."

Emma and Clint ran over and helped the tangle of limbs disband. "Chris! Alex!" Clint made a noise when he grabbed the twins and they turned in his arms to hug him. "Hey midgets! We missed you."

Chris got his footing and looked around then frowned. "Where is he?" He glanced at Alex who just sighed and rubbed his nose a little. "He didn't!"

"Who didn't?" Emma frowned. "Did you find everyone? Are they coming too?"

"We didn't find Loki or Gabby yet," Alex told them. "Tony and Steve were going to go and find them, and Eindride was supposed to follow us..."

"Not if there was a chance to help our Dad's," Kaia said as her and Nathan got back up. Both Alex and Chris made a face. "I don't like that look."

"There's, uh, been a small complication." Chris rubbed the back of his head. "We made two portals, and Eindride was supposed to come back with us, because, uh, he's a little, blind."

"What?!" Both girls yelled at the same time. Tomas and Sander jumped a little, holding onto Clint's shirt.

"And he went with Dad and Uncle Steve?" Emma's eyes had widened. "Do they even know where they're going?"

"No, no they don't," Chris admitted.

* * *

"You are so dead," Tony growled when the three had landed in the middle of a forest. "You were supposed to go back Home."

"And leave you one person down?" Eindride said, nodding a little to Steve when he helped him walk in the right direction. "You need all the help you can get, just in case."

"We don't know if we need help yet," Tony told him, staying close enough to his son could follow his voice. Eindride was about to respond when he frowned a little and stopped. Looking around he let his ears listen. There was a familiar faint hum in the background and he turned. "Anders?"

"This way, I can sense him," he started walking before Steve or Tony could stop him.

"Anders, wait!" Steve called out as they followed him. "You don't know what's out there."

"Dad is, I can hear his magic!" He had his arms out to stop him from running into any trees or anything. "And that means that Aunt Gabby is around, too!" He could hear Tony and Steve catching up to him before they suddenly stopped moving. Eindride frowned a little before his arms pushed into a body and he stopped.

"Eindride," Tony said quietly, and much too calmly. "Back away slowly, towards us."

"You'd tell our son to back away?" Eindride froze when he heard Loki's voice, but something didn't sound right.

"I would, because you're not his father, not right now." Tony didn't take his eyes off Loki. It was his Loki, but the eyes were wrong, the stance was wrong, everything felt wrong about him. Loki smirked and Tony tried not to react when he saw another Loki walk out from behind a tree, a younger one that obviously belonged to this dimension.

"You want this man back," Loki looked at Tony, walking past Eindride. "And you want the woman back. She needs some medical attention, so time is probably of the essence." Steve tensed next to Tony. "You can't have both." Tony took a couples steps forward to meet Loki face to face. He almost jumped when Loki suddenly grabbed his arm and his eyes flashed. "Gauton isn't far away, if you can weaken him in some way I can break free. Please." Tony's mouth opened a little, blinking quickly before Loki's eyes flashed again.

Tony brought his fist up but Loki caught it before it could make contact. "For all that you are, you still act like the lower mortal you were born as. I can feel your ties to this man, and frankly it's exhausting." Tony tried to pull away, glancing to the side to see that Steve and the other Loki were in their own stare off. "It would just be so much easier to kill you-" Tony was jerked back suddenly when Loki was shoved into him. He was able to pull away from his grip but wasn't able to recover before Loki did.

Eindride was standing behind Loki, hands glowing a little. "Get out of my Dad."

Loki let out a chuckle and cracked his neck once before moving, hands glowing with a brown energy. Eindride lifted one hand to make a shield while countering Loki's spell with the other. "How does it feel?" Loki asked as he moved easily to the side to avoid one of Eindride's spells. "To fight your father, knowing that you'll never get him back?"

"You seem awfully full of yourself," Eindride said through gritted teeth as he started to move, trying to circle Loki and get to either Tony or Steve. He could hear two other people fighting and wasn't sure who it was. The familiar hum of Loki's magic was enough to keep him from getting hit by the spells, but it was obvious that he was at the disadvantage, and most likely the reason that Tony hadn't wanted him to follow them. "I wouldn't be so confident."

A pair of hands grabbed Eindride's arms and pulled him down and he recognized them as Steve's hands. He felt two spells collide in the air above them and blinked when he heard a second hum of magic from behind them. He blinked, suddenly confused. "There's two of them," Steve said next to him. "They're both obviously being controlled and Tony had gone off to find who is doing it." Eindride nodded a little, creating a bubble shield around them as he heard feet crunch on the ground coming towards them.

"Do you want to know what my favorite part of this is?" Eindride heard Loki ask. "I have two sorcerer's under my control, two Pets, and they're both forced to watch this happen. They can see it all." Steve kept a grip on Eindride's arms as he talked. Eindride suddenly tensed when he felt the double hum of power around them and knew that his shield wasn't going to stay up much longer.

"Uncle Steve," Eindride said quietly. "I'm going to drop the shield, and I want you to run and find Dad, help him."

"You're crazy kid," he could feel Steve shake his head. "I'm not leaving you alone here."

"I can handle this, They're going to take down my shield, and if you can help Dad then you can stop this from getting worse. Please," he pleaded when he heard Steve take a breath to interrupt. "You can help them better than I can. I can distract them away from both of you."

"They're both going to kill you." Eindride nodded, smirking a little.

"I know, but I wouldn't be their son if I didn't do something crazy." Steve squeezed his arm a little and Eindride took a breath before dropping an opening just as the two spells were released. Steve took off running and Eindride gasped the spells hit the shield, interrupting his spell. He could see the darkness around his eyes get brighter slightly as he imagined the spells had made a rather large flash of power, enough of a diversion for Steve to run unseen.

"I'm going to make him watch as his son suffers in pain as I decide whether or not you're worth changing." Eindride took a breath as he was grabbed from behind and hauled to his feet. "You've lost points by already letting another disable you, but you've proved to be useful by fighting despite your lost sight." He jerked his head when he felt cold fingers on his cheek. "This could take a while." Eindride grit his teeth as the fingers gripped his jaw tightly and started to heat up.

"Gauton!" Tony yelled as he ran through the forest. He had taken off as soon as he was free from Loki's grasp. He had to stop the Fae to help them both and to find Gabby. Tony was so close to getting them all back, and they had finally been free of Gauton, and he would be damned if he was going to lose it all again. "I know you're here!"

"Tony!" He stopped and turned when he heard Steve shouting for him. Tony was about to respond when there suddenly something cold and sharp at his neck.

"Don't move," he heard a familiar voice at his ear. "This doesn't need to be hard. I can sense how you're connected to him, how he's your Master. An argument could be made for me to keep both you and your son around with him."

"And have to bow down to you, I don't think so," Tony hissed out. He saw Steve run through the trees then stop when he saw them. "If you let them go then you won't have to die. We're kind of experts in killing you."

"I'm afraid that's not something you can promise." Gauton seemed to be smirking as he said it though. "I have your woman, though. Do you want her, Rogers?" Tony looked over at Steve.

"And why would you so willingly offer her release to me?" Steve asked carefully. He wanted Gabby back, there was no question, but he knew there would be a price to it.

"Because she is of no use to me anymore," Gauton answered simply. "I had used her to keep Loki in check until I could claim complete control. Her life essence is waning and I have no use of her anymore." His grip tightened around Tony's chest, the knife resting closer on his throat. "You take her, and I keep the others. That is my offer, no strings attached."

"Do it Steve," Tony said suddenly. "Get her out of here. This may be the only thing we can get out of him the easy way."

"I knew you were a smart man," Gauton smirked, keeping his eyes on Steve. He started to move Tony to the side and Steve's eyes widened a little. When Gauton was far enough away Steve ran over to his wife that was lying on the ground.

"Gabby, I'm here baby," Steve said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, sitting her up a little. He could see that she was pale, dark circles under eyes, and when they opened her usually crystal green eyes were dulled. He tried to sit her up and she gasped a little, putting a hand on his arm. "What's wrong? Talk to me baby."

She took a breath and winced a little as she sat up slowly in his arms. She looked at him, studying him and she put a hand on his cheek. "Oh my god, you're real, you're really here." She let out a choked sob and fisted her hands in his shirt. "You shouldn't be here, it's too dangerous."

"He's aware." She tensed at Gauton's voice and looked over at the Fae holding onto Tony. He smirked a little when they heard a shout of pain from the distance. "I think they're all aware now."


	19. Chapter 19

**A****/N: This was hard to write for some reason and I'm not entirely happy with it, but this isn't the end of the story.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Steve glanced over at Tony then back at Gabby. "We're not leaving are we?" She shook her head and he nodded. "Wouldn't dream of it. Can you stand?"

"I'd rather not, but I'm gonna have to." She took a breath and put her hands on his arms. She could see the worry in his eyes but didn't want to tell him right away what was wrong. They needed a better moment than this.

Tony could see Gauton's fingers glowing lightly, using his powers to take complete control over both of the Loki's. He had to disrupt this to help Loki. "So if you're letting them go, are you going to send them back to their home too? It was a spell of yours that did this in the first place."

"A spell of mine, yes, but not mine per say." Gauton shrugged a little. "If you can find your way here, they can find their way back to their dimension." He watched Steve slowly helping Gabby up, frowning when he saw her pants were covered in something dark and wet. He had a bad feeling.

"You need to give them a spell back to their home. If you do that then I won't fight you."

"Tony," Steve hissed.

"Steve, this shouldn't surprise you." Tony looked at him, hoping that he was able to get his meaning across. He needed Steve to cooperate for this to work. "It's obviously that Gabby needs to get home, and you know I'm all about self-sacrificing. It's a nasty habit of mine."

"I hadn't exactly said yes," Gauton drolled out. Tony felt the knife let up against his neck a little. "I offered them their freedom, to walk out of here alone, I don't see any reason to actually send them home as well."

"I was really hoping that you would reconsider," Tony sighed a little before bringing his elbow up. Gauton's moved his head but the knife also moved away from his neck. Tony grabbed his wrist and bent it back a little grabbing the knife before Gauton could recover. "But, I'm fairly certain that I would have done the same thing either way." He pulled his arm back but Gauton grabbed his arm and growled, squeezing to force him to drop the knife.

"This could have all gone so easily, and no one would have really had to get hurt." He pulled on Tony's arm, forcing him to his knees.

"The only one getting hurt is you," Gabby growled and Gauton shouted when there was a knife in his shoulder. Tony blinked a little when he looked back at her, Steve holding onto her so she could keep her balance.

"That was a nice shot," Tony told her as he got back up and backed away from the Fae. They turned when they heard footsteps coming towards the clearing and both Loki's walked out, holding onto Eindride.

Gauton smirked. "Now this will be much easier to get things done." Tony looked over at Loki and tried to hide his smile. It worked, he could feel the answering power coming from Loki trying to reassure him, and making him feel more stable and in control than he had in the past week.

"The boy isn't going to be much use to you," Loki told him, pulling Eindride up to stand straight. "But he'll be of plenty use to me." Eindride's hands glowed and Gauton was shoved back against a tree and Loki was working a spell to throw at him. Gauton growled and moved, starting to push past Eindride's spell until Tony was there, his hands glowing and pushing him back again, adding to his sons spell. "I'm going to make you feel the pain that you've caused others."

The elder Fae arched his back as pain started to work its way through his body, slowly. "Tell my daughter that I sent you there," a raspy voice added, another spell added, killing him more quickly. Black tendrils of smoke started to rise up around Gauton, wrapping around his legs and moving up. They all shivered, familiar with the sensation of Hel coming to claim a soul. "She'll be sure to take good care of you." Gauton let out a scream as he was pulled down, the cold wrapping around him, taking him down to the realm of the dead.

Loki moved first, grabbing Odinson before he collapsed. "Hey, it's alright. I'm gonna give you a boost to get you home." The younger Loki nodded a little. "Be sure to find Frigga first, tell her what happened, she can give you something to help."

"Always knew that I could count on myself." Loki snorted and let a soft green glow cover his counterpart.

"Trust me, things can get better, even after this." He disappeared and Loki took a breath. Eindride was closer and got to Loki first, his arms wrapping around the man. Loki closed his eyes and held onto him, letting his lips curl up a little when he felt Tony hug him from behind.

"I'm handcuffing you to me from now on," Tony murmured. "Can we go back home now?"

"I didn't get the spell though," Loki frowned and looked at them.

"We've got it covered, Dad," Eindride said as he pulled back, pulling out the red glowing crystal tinged with some blue from the tesseract. "Everyone else is waiting for us back home."

* * *

Gabby took a breath and opened her eyes slowly. There was a gentle beeping in the background and a hand holding onto hers. She looked over and smiled a little when she saw Steve asleep in the chair next to the bed. Rubbing his fingers gently she turned her head into the pillow of the hospital and watched him.

"My eyes are just closed because I don't want the nurses to kick me out," Steve said quietly, opening his eyes. He brought her hand up and kissed her knuckles gently. "Not that they'd be able to get me to leave anyway."

"Not that they'd dare tell Captain America to leave," she said quietly.

"I'm not Captain America right now, the only thing I am is Steve Rogers, concerned husband." She let him play with her fingers a little. "The Doctor said one more day of IV antibiotics and then you should be able to head home." Gabby's hand tightened around his and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart. I'm staying right by your side."

Tony wrapped an arm around Loki's waist as they stood by the door. Loki let his fingers slide of Tony's hand and nodded a little. "She'll get through this," Tony said quietly. "She's got a great family, and an amazing Uncle that will never stop looking out for her." He kissed Loki's neck and rested his chin on his shoulder.

Loki nodded and turned to entwine his fingers with Tony's. "I think we all can get a few days off. We still have a few things to take care of." They started to walk down the hall together.

"I already have JARVIS working on the scans from Eindride's eyes," Tony told him. "And I've confirmed that my energy levels and our connection is back to normal."

"We've still got to go back to Jotunheim, as well." Tony sighed a little and nodded.

"You're going to need to make a warming charm for me then," Tony put in. "I think I'm developing a phobia to the cold. I'm about to relocate us to Malibu for good." Loki snorted a little and smiled at him.


	20. Chapter 20

**A****/N: Sorry this took so long! Work has been kicking my butt with the holidays coming up. Retail. Bah.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

_Loki closed his eyes, wincing at the sound around him. Footsteps crunched on leaves and he held his breath, waiting for the reaction. He hadn't served his Master well enough, he knew it, and now he would be punished. Long fingers slowly slid down his jaw to the side of his neck before nails pressed against his nails. He took a breath and tried not to make a sound._

_"Did you really think that you could just come here and kill me?" A voice sounded in his ear. "After all that I've done for you, after I made you Better." Loki squeaked when the hand tightened around his neck. "You know they won't come for you. Do you know why though?" He shook Loki's body body when he didn't answer and Loki just shook his head. "Because, you don't deserve it. You're lucky I'm taking you back, but I'm going to make you even better."_

_Loki swallowed and the air left his body when he was suddenly pulled back and slammed into a tree. His eyes shot open when a hand was clamped around his neck. Gauton was in front of him crushing his windpipe. Loki choked, young hands reaching up to grab at Gauton's wrists, trying to pull the hands away._

"Loki!" Loki's eyes shot open and he saw wide brown eyes above him. "Are you awake now? Are you okay?" Tony helped him sit up in the bed, wiping his forehead off. Loki just nodded a little as he absently ran his fingers across Tony's arm.

He took a minute to catch his breath and rubbed his face as he sat up. Loki could feel Tony next to him, waiting but not saying anything. When he turned to look at the man a he could see that Tony must not have been sleeping. He didn't display the typical signs of having just been woken up, Tony looked more like he unable to force himself to sleep. Loki had had nights like that. "Tony." The man hummed a little and looked over at him. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

Tony leaned over and kissed his cheek gently. "Why aren't you?" He stretched his arms over his head and started to get up. "I'm going to go check on the boys then get started on breakfast."

"It's only five in the morning," Loki told him, watching him pull a long sleeved shirt on over his tank top. "It's a little early for breakfast isn't it?"

"I doubt anyone else is asleep," Tony commented before leaving the room. He walked to the bedroom across the hall and pushed the door open a little with his hand, seeing that the twins were asleep, the pups Runa and Vigi on either side of them and Tyr and Lyra were at the end of the bed. The two older dogs looked up at their master and smiled a little at them. Tony pulled the door closed a little, leaving it open a little for the boys, and headed back down the hall to the elevator. He saw the TV was on in the living room and Chris and Alex were laying on the couch together while Clint and Lee were on the loveseat, both couples having fallen asleep watching what could have been an awful movie.

Looking in another room he saw that Steve and Gabby were sleeping, or at least Gabby was attempting to. Tony and Steve looked at each other for a second before he nodded to the man with his arms around his wife. Tony knew that Loki wasn't the only one having a hard time sleeping. In the room net door Bry was asleep with little Andrew next to her, a bed guard set up around them so nothing happened. He moved down to look into the last room and saw that Eindride was asleep with Emma's around his shoulders, Kaia and Nathan on the other side of the bed.

Tony leaned against the doorway looking at his kids, for once not letting his mind wander, just taking them in. Like this it didn't look like anything had happened, it didn't look like his youngest daughter was still coping with the loss of her love, it didn't look like his son would probably never see again, it looked like they were just a close knit family.

This time Tony kept going until he was in the elevator and moving down to his lab. He couldn't sleep so he would need to keep his mind busy. He barely heard JARVIS greet him as he walked into the lab and started to bring up screens of running tests.

"Any results yet, J?" Tony asked as he slipped down on the stool at his desk.

"On which tests, sir?" The AI asked and Tony ran a hand down his face a little.

"Um, let's start with the spell in the kitchen," Tony said as he parsed through some of the information that Nathan had gathered when he was down there. "How it got there, how it activated, I don't know, something?"

A screen popped up showing surveillance from the kitchen moments before everything happened. Tony frowned a little and watched, saw Gabby and Steve teasing Chris, saw himself trying to tickle the twins, he saw Loki even laughing at them all. When the video paused he zoomed in and saw the little spark that was falling to the floor. Tony frowned and backed up and saw that it had fallen from Loki's hand.

"That son of a bitch," Tony cursed. "He set him up, he set us all up." Gauton had probably expected that it would only work on himself and Loki, separating them, but he hadn't counted on there being such a big group. Tony leaned back as the video started to play again. Saw how Alex and Steve moved, how Chris and Eindride both took steps back, how Loki had put an arm across Gabby, and how he had pulled the boys to him.

Tony let out a little chuckle. "Chris is totally the woman in the relationship, he's even dating his dad." He snorted before saving the video for later. "Anything on Eindride's scans?"

"The tests are ninety-two percent done, but I'm afraid the outlook is not what you had hoped for, sir." And Tony'd be damned if his AI didn't sound regretful at the sentence.

"Bring it up," Tony said quietly and saw the scans and tests start to pop up. He looked through all the information, started sorting different things, trying to pull something, anything from what he was looking at. "The damage has gone that deep?" He asked as he looked at one particular scan. He could see the damage to the nerves and the tissue.

"There are also lingering traces of magic," JARVIS informed him and Tony frowned. "I've run the tests multiple times while you were attempting to sleep, sir." Tony sighed and dropped his head on his arms. Until it popped back up when there was the sound of another test finishing.

Tony swallowed and brought it up. "These have been cross-referenced with all DNA profiles available?"

"Yes, sir," the AI responded softly. Tony licked his lips and nodded as he looked through the files. He saw pictures next to information and Tony wondered how he didn't see it before. He didn't look anything like Maria Stark, but he looked too much like Howard Stark.

"And you couldn't find anything in his files from the palladium scare?" Tony asked quietly. "Why? Why did you do it?" Tony whispered to himself. He looked back up to the results that confirmed that he was not biologically born to Howard and Maria Stark. "What were you trying to accomplish? Or were you trying to hide something?"


	21. Chapter 21

**A****/N: Part of this is set in facts of Comic Universe Tony Stark, and the rest is all made up in my head.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Eindride had carefully extracted himself from his sisters arms when he woke up. He could hear the other three still sleeping peacefully and didn't want to wake them up. Quietly he slipped out of the room, hand out and trailing along the wall, moving slowly down the hall, not quite remembering which bedroom he had eventually stumbled to when they got home.

Loki cleared his throat a little when he walked out and he turned his head to face him. "What time is it?" He felt Loki walk closer and put a hand on his arm, leading him through the rooms.

"Almost six," he told his son. "I was told that breakfast would be almost ready, but i don't smell the usually burning of your father's food." Eindride snorted a little. "So I'm sure he went down to his lab. Care to join me?"

"Sure, you might need help trying to pry him away." Loki pat his arm a little and they made their way to the elevator.

"How did you manage to get away from your sisters?" Loki asked as the cart moved down to the lower levels.

"Carefully, and quietly," Eindride said. "If they weren't so tired in the first place I might not have been able to get away. Emma also turned so I was on the edge of the bed so I didn't have to crawl over anyone."

Loki chuckled a little and they felt the elevator stopped. As they walked out Eindride felt Loki pause a little. "What?"

"It seems he's found a project," Loki said. "If the dozen screens around him mean anything. Come on." Eindride wrinkled his nose a little as they walked to the lab. When the door opened Eindride didn't hear any of Tony's music playing, but he heard the hum and buzzing of the machines in the lab.

"Hey," he heard Tony call out from the other side of the room. Eindride thought he detected a faint unsteadiness to the tone. "What are you two doing down here?"

"We came to check on you," Loki said as he looked around. Tony was surrounded by several screens, and they all seemed to be something. "You've been down here for about an hour. What are all of these."

"Just stuff, tests, comparing things, you know working on things, like I do." Tony rambled out quickly.

Eindride walked over carefully to the desk and let his fingertips gloss over until he found the keyboard he kept out for the kids when they were younger. He carefully typed out a command. "JARVIS?"

"Oi," Tony frowned when he looked over to see what his son was doing.

"The results of blood samples taken from one Anthony Edward Stark are being displayed, being compared to the most blood and DNA sample of Anthony Edward Stark and to Howard Anthony Stark."

"Tony?" Loki asked looking at his husband.

Tony sighed and dropped back onto his stool, running a hand over his face. "I was stuck in a dimension where World War II had just ended, and instead of Cap being frozen he had been found and saved. I was back in time, and I was forced to seek help from an alternate version of my father." Loki walked over sat down across from Tony. "That's when I started to experience the worst of the side effects of being separated from you. I blacked out and I guess that Howard had taken a sample of my DNA, I looked too much like him."

Tony reached out and pulled down a screen. "This is a comparison of my blood right after I got the arc reactor to the last sample of Howard's when he died. They're almost identical. And not in a he's my father way." Eindride frowned as he listened to Tony talk. "In a weird, almost his clone, way. Turns out that I was adopted by Howard and Maria, and then he did something when I was still a baby. I don't know why, I don't know if he had planned it or not, I don't know anything about it and there's no one I'd be able to ask." Tony had started to talk faster, his arms moving around, and he got up to pace the floor. "I've been trying to check anything to my genetics from the time I started taking samples, and running it through any system i can find, maybe to get a hit on something. There's not even an official record of adoption!"

Loki got up and took Tony's hands. He looked over when Eindride put a hand on his arm. Tony felt the unwanted wibble of his lower lip and the tears that threatened to fall. "He changed me, and I don't know why, and I don't even know where I came from," he said quietly. "Why would someone take a baby from another family?"

"Spoils of war," Loki said with a sad smile. Tony let out a choked laugh and let his rest against Loki's.

"Anders, never marry someone that you have so much in common with," Tony said, turning his head to look at their son. "You'll find out just how infuriating your habits can be, and just how much your life sucked before you found them."

"And what do you find out about life since you found them?" Eindride asked with a soft smile.

"You'll find out just how much better your life can be." Loki raised an eyebrow. "Even if said partner decides to play dead for five years." Loki grunted when Tony punched his shoulder. "Unfortunately, you'll never stop loving the stupid bastard, and you still can't live without them."

"I should have let you stay a mortal," Loki murmured as he rubbed his shoulder a little. "That never used to hurt."

"Good," Tony huffed a little and let his head rest on Loki's shoulder.

Eindride turned his head a little when he heard a small pop from one of the screens. "It occurs to me that I'll have to start learning braille," Eindride said paying attention to his parents again. "But this will make using phones or computers, or most electronics, impossible."

Tony took a breath and straightened a little. "I'm sure that I could make a fluid interface. They have braille typewriters and printers, why not make a touch screen that changes like liquid?" Tony shrugged a little, welcoming the distraction that Eindride gave him. "I'm Tony Stark, I made an arc reactor for my chest and for the world. The possibilities of what I can make are beyond compare." Tony looked at Eindride and smiled, Loki smiling when he saw it. "But what I can do for my son? Now that's limitless." He kissed Eindride's head. "If I can't give you your sight back, I can make everything about fifty times easier."

Loki put a hand on Eindride's back as Tony set to work. The younger man moved closer to his Dad, taking in his comfort. "One day at a time," Loki told him. "For all of us. One day at a time."


	22. Chapter 22

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tony looked up at Loki from the circuit board he was working on.

"I'll be gone for a day," Loki told him. "I've been away too long as it is, and I just need to check on things." He pulled on his jacket and Tony was watching him now. "I'll be back and then you'll have to come with me, official things of course. I want to make sure that everything will be fine because I'd rather not be away from the kids for any longer than we have to be, so I'd like to bring them with us."

"I agree with that," Tony told him and put his tools down. He got up and walked over to Loki, eying him in the old leather outfit. "You know what I'm also thinking? That it's been Far to long since we've had sex."

"I Am in the room!" Eindride called out from the back. "I don't need to hear this." Both Tony and Loki rolled their eyes. "I could hear that."

"I think he's become worse," Tony told his husband. "Alright, so you'll be back in a day?"

"Two at the most, that should give me enough time in Jotunheim to get things rolling." Loki nodded. "It will also give me time to craft that heating amulet for you."

"Oh good, you didn't forget," Tony said and pat his cheek. "I'm not a fan of the cold anymore, I'm sure there's been some psychological marks left behind, but I'm not in the mood to explore them. I've got other life altering things to explore."

"You are my special one," Loki put his hands on Tony's cheeks.

"I'm sure he rode the short bus at some point, that's for sure," Eindride commented and Tony's face deadpanned.

"Alright, get going. The sooner you leave the sooner you can come back." Tony kissed him quickly.

"Promise not to blow anything up while I'm gone?" Loki gave him a look. "Don't get in to any trouble until I come back, and don't do anything stupid."

"What constitutes as something stupid?" Tony asked and Loki groaned.

"Try not to blow anything up, at least," Loki sighed. He walked over and kissed the top of Eindride's head, smiling at the look of annoyance that still graced his features. "Please make sure he doesn't kill himself if he plans to do anything stupid."

"I make no promises," Eindride told him. "Go, find your new kingdom, and make sure that I'm not the first heir to the throne. That place needs to be reserved for Emma. In fact you should take her with you."

"Like he was going to leave without me," Emma spoke up as she walked in, causing both Tony and Loki to raise their eyebrows. "A chance to finally visit Jotunheim, and you're leaving without me? I think not."

"What part of short visit doesn't this family understand?" Loki sighed and Tony snorted.

"This family doesn't do anything easy," Emma grinned as she walked over. "You know you could use the help anyway, I can be very diplomatic."

"Stop trying to convince me, or you'll find yourself staying home," Loki muttered.

"You couldn't have started going to Jotunheim when I was a teenager?" Eindride asked, glancing over at Loki and Emma. "If I would have known it would gotten her out of the house- Ow!" He rubbed the back of his head from where Emma's hand had smacked him. "Well, it's true."

"Isn't it nice to know that even after five years, our kids still haven't changed?" Tony smirked at Loki. He just hummed in slight annoyance, trying not to smile. "Now shoo, you two."

Loki and Emma weren't gone half a minute before Tony moved and Eindride raised an eyebrow. "And just what exactly are you going to get yourself into?"

"Last i checked, I was older than you, little boy," Tony pointed at his son.

"Did you have your fingers crossed the whole time you were talking to Dad? I'm just wondering." Tony rolled his eyes. "Well, you'd better tell me where we're going so i know how to dress."

"You're not coming with me, you know." Tony raised an eyebrow as Eindride got up.

"Someone needs to watch your back. Metaphorically of course."

Tony sighed. "I'm going to Hel," he admitted after a second and Eindride frowned a little. "I need to get some answers."

"You're going to see if they're there..." Eindride walked over to him. "What if they're not? What if you can't ask them why they did it, or where they found you?"

"Then I can't ask them, but I have to at least try." Eindride made a little face and Tony raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"That was me having an internal debate. I think I can help, and you won't have to go anywhere." He rubbed his hands together in a nervous gesture and Tony watched him. "So, in theory, everything that a person has ever seen is a memory, right? No one ever really forgets anything, it's just tucked away in their brain."

"You want to hypnotize me?" Tony raised an eyebrow. Eindride just held up his hands, giving Tony what was still a very effective 'you're an idiot' look. "Think about it carefully, I don't know what's going to be hidden in my memories so far back."

"And isn't that the point? You're making a whole new interface system for me, this I can do for you." Eindride slipped from his chair to make his way over to Tony.

"Someone was going to eventually make something like this, I just thought that it should be the best. And this isn't something that you pay me back for," Tony stepped closer to meet Eindride. "This is just something that parents do."

"Save your parent spiel," Eindride said, taking his arm. "We probably shouldn't do this in the lab where things are liable to break." Tony snorted and they left the workshop, but stayed in the hall. He took a couple of breaths, steadying himself, focusing on what exactly he was going to be looking for. "You know Dad is going to kill us both, right?"

"He owes me a couple for the past five years." Tony shrugged a little. "You're positive about this?"

"Shut up and relax." Eindride waited until he felt Tony relax before letting his power take over. This time was different, he had a clear goal and he could see what looked like a stream in front of him. He blinked a little, caught off guard at being able to see something other than the constant darkness before looking closer at the stream. He saw flashes of Tony and realized that he had actually managed to tap into his memories instead of being thrown into them.

Eindride turned and started heading in the opposite way the stream was flowing, trying to get back to the start. He wondered idly what his own time stream would look like, and if everything would just be a blur of darkness at the end.

"This is going to be a pain in the ass when you get older," Eindride murmured.

"I'm hoping you won't have to do it any other time." Eindride jumped a little when Tony's voice echoed around him. "Can you imagine if you were able to do this to your dad?"

"Do you hate me?" Tony snorted and chuckled. "You'd want me to parse through over a thousand years of memories? This is just under a hundred years and I'm dreading it."

"I'm still in my 80's! Back off," Tony growled a little. "Don't make me sound older than I am."

"Dad, people in their 80's are usually retired and watching talk shows and their 'stories' on TV." Eindride rolled his eyes a little. He watched the stream as it shrunk a little, the memories not as strong the younger he was and knew that he must be close. "Alright, I think I'm almost there." Eindride got down on one knee and lightly dipped one finger into the stream.

There was a tree, with golden leaves and flowers that bloomed out, a giant golden hall in the distance behind it. the edge of what looked like a large amber wing seemed to come into focus and a soft feather tickled his nose. There was a soft gurgle that answered the action and soft skin touched his cheek.

"You'll have more than I could offer you on Midgard," a gentle voice spoke to the side. "The Queen will not tell me what she saw, but there was a smile on her face." He was picked up and turned and he could see a smiling face, her expression tinged with sadness, looking at him. Her long auburn hair was braided over her shoulder and there was a tear in her eye. "Would that I could, I'd leave you with your father, but he shall be coming soon to also gaze upon Glasir." She kissed his forehead gently. "I wish I could say that I long to see you again, but I hope that your mortal blood blesses you with a short life. I do not want you to aid in the fight that has yet to come. Live a fulfilling life my son."

He was turned, cradled in the arms, looking at the golden tree once more. A golden flower bud fell through the air and landed on his nose. He heard a soft laugh before another leaf fell, covering his eyes.

Eindride gasped as he was thrown out of the memory, back hitting the wall. After a moment he could hear Tony trying to get a control over his breathing as well. "That was, interesting?"


	23. Chapter 23

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki and Emma walked comfortable through the wind and snow that was blowing, both in their blue skin, Emma obviously more comfortable than her father. Loki could start to see the changes in Jotunheim that the Casket was making. The skies actually seemed to carry some light instead of the perpetual mid afternoon gloom, and the terrain seemed more stable, possibly not as barren. He knew that it would take years to get Jotunheim back to whatever former glory that it had, and it would take the guidance of him as a King to make it prosper, but that was something he could worry about later.

"This is where you were born?" Emma asked as she looked around. Loki wasn't sure what she was looking for.

"I lived here for less than a week," he told her. "The most time I've spent has not exactly been welcoming. I'm hoping that today will be different."

"So why didn't we head straight to the palace?" She asked, looking at him now as they spoke.

"Because there was a village up here that helped your father and I, and I gave them Royal capacity while I was gone." He explained as he looked around, thinking that they should have been getting close. "I'd like to meet with them again, see what's been happening. They're going to be instrumental right now to getting things... moving." They stopped when they reached the village. The empty and destroyed village.

"Dad?" She frowned as she looked around.

"It wasn't like this when I left," Loki murmured as he walked to the village, looking at the houses and buildings. It had all been frozen and smashed to pieces, ice littering the ground, green and gold banners ripped and torn. "Someone has already decided that they did not like me on the throne."

"But you haven't done anything." Emma said as she picked up one of the ripped banners. "How can they not like you already?"

"There tends to be animosity when you kill a former King," Loki muttered. "We have to get to the palace. If I have to I'll remove the Casket again."

"Where is everyone?" Emma asked after a couple of seconds, looking around. "Even if they were attacked, where are the bodies?"

Loki point out to the other side of the river, where there were barely seen mounds under the snow. "They left at least one person alive. One person to dig the graves." Loki growled a little. "I'll not let them get away with this. I did not risk nearly everything I had just to let this realm revert to it's former days."

Emma's fingers started to spark with a pale green. "Point me in a direction." Loki glanced at her before taking her arm.

"Hang on tight." Loki pulled on a spell to bring them just outside the steps of the temple. There were no more tents from Blyster's camps, but there were new banners along the palace. Blue and red banners hung at the towers. "Stay at the temple." Loki turned to look at Emma. "If I don't come back then you are to take the Casket from it's place and call for Heimdall."

"Seriously?" Emma looked at him. "What about-"

"They won't do anything if they think that I know where the Casket is," Loki told her. "The most important think is to get it away from them, so that they won't be able to use it against the realms in some sort of delusioned revenge." He put a hand on her arm. "I've no intentions of leaving this family this time, not again." He kissed her cheek before motioning her up the steps.

She let out a sigh and headed up the steps, power still at her fingers, and when she turned around Loki was gone to the palace. Heading back up Emma followed the feeling of a power and saw the Casket of Ancient Winters. Walking over to it she let her hands hover over it, feeling the cold and the power around it. She felt it's connection to the realms core, felt the life that it was feeding. Emma turned to look out at the land. It looked barren and broken, cold and lifeless. It was a wonder that even the Jotun could survive here, but she assumed that since the Casket was gone and the realm had spent so long in a civil war, and under the leadership of a cruel King, that not many Jotun did, or wanted to, survive.

When Emma turned back around she blinked and looked past the Casket. Walking over she pulled aside a couple pieces of ice and brushed away some snow. She picked up what looked like a small basket and inspected it, turning it over in her hands carefully. It looked old, about to fall apart in her hands. Putting it down she something catch her eye, a black cord lying on the bottom. Emma pulled it out and saw a small silver pendant with a design carved into it, it looked like stylized V. Almost exactly like the design she had seen Loki use when he worked with Tony down in the workshop sometimes. Her eyes widened a little when she realized that this was where her father had been found by Odin. 

* * *

Loki pushed open the doors to the throne room, not surprised to see guards waiting, some with sword in one hand and almost all with ice spears, pointed directly at him. "Who gives you your orders? Who usurps my title?" He didn't move, staring at each guard with a fire in his red eyes.

"The title that you've tried to claim at least once before?" A strong female voice sounded behind the guards. "Give me a reason why my guards shouldn't kill you? Why I shouldn't have done to you as was done to Laufey?"

"Because if you do," Loki said, straightening when he heard the voice start to come closer towards him, "then the Casket will once again go missing from these lands. Your realm will descend once again into ruin, and you will never find it." The guards started to part and he saw a woman with long black hair walking towards him. She was unarmed, but looked like she had seen her fair share of battles. Loki wouldn't underestimate her. But there was something about her that nagged at his mind. "The people will know that you are the reason that salvation was once again stolen from them."

"And what would you do with this land?" She put her arms out, as if to gesture. "Would you have them all live like Midgardians?" She spit on the ground before looking back at him. "Live like the insects that you've decided to stay with? This is a realm of warriors! A realm of those that will bow to no other race!" The guards let out a yell, pounding their feet onto the floor. The woman held up a hand and they stopped, not a single one taking their glances away from Loki. "What kind of weak and pathetic King would you be?"

"Do you know anything about the people here?" Loki challenged. "Have you talked to them? And not just your war mongering hounds that surround you. The ones that live off of this land." In the back of Loki's mind he was glad that Thor wasn't around to hear him. He'd say that this was the sort of King that Loki was meant to be, and he sorely wanted to avoid one of his bone crushing hugs. "A ruler is meant to not only lead the people, but to protect them."

"And while you were gone, you would were content leaving this land in the hands of a few small villagers?" The woman snorted as some of the guards sniggered. "They were almost as weak as you, but they at least had their size going for them. Baring your banner proudly, like it was some kind of honor-"

"You are no Queen!" Loki shouted at her. "You are nothing but a petty child looking for a fight that you can not hope to win!"

The woman didn't grow angry, she didn't laugh, she didn't even smile. She walked over to Loki slowly and looked down at him. "You are wrong, sorcerer. I was, and Am, a Queen. You, the petulant runt, are the child. The child that killed his father, caused the death of his two brothers. If I had known that you would have been taken by the Allfather, I would have smothered you the second you were born." Loki felt his bones chill at her words as she looked down at him. He knew her now.

"Welcome home, my youngest offspring," Farbauti sneered at him. "Allow me to show you how far my hospitality extends." Loki sucked in a breath when a thin ice pike slid through his shoulder. He looked down and saw Farbauti's hand gripping it, and when he looked back up she was smirking. "Let your dearest Mother take care of you."


	24. Chapter 24

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki opened his eyes and looked at Farbauti as she walked in with her guards. His arms were pulled back behind him, wrists bound with chains that connected to floor, his knees bent but he stayed crouched on his feet, refusing to be in a kneeling position.

"Having some issues?" Loki asked. He could see that she was annoyed and he could only guess that it had something to do with the Casket. That meant that Emma was still safe.

"Tell me how to access the Casket, and I'll release you," she stated calmly at first. She pulled on her Queen's Grace, and Loki was almost impressed. Almost. "You'll be named Prince of Jotunheim once more."

"I'm sure, but I'll have to release any claim to the throne, correct?" He raised an eyebrow at them. "And I assume that I'll have to stay here, kept prisoner in your palace so that you may keep close observation on me."

"I would be a fool to trust you in any way once out of those chains," she told him.

"Perhaps you are not as dim-witted as I was led to believe." Loki smirked, even as his head was snapped to the side by a well placed punch to his cheek. "There must have been a reason that you are still alive today. Tell me, which one of your sons did you love better? Was it Helbindi?" Loki turned his head back to look at Farbauti. "You let him sit in the palace for much longer that his brother ever made it to. You also left him in charge of my torture, that actually surprises me a little now that I know."

"From what I heard it was actually rather effective," she told him, taking a step closer. "Reduced to nothing but guttural noises, severe violence, all over a runt of a child."

Loki growled at her. "Unlike you, I love all my children, and would die to protect them."

"I can not wait to find one of your children, then we can test that theory of yours." She smirked as Loki tried to conceal his jerk against the chains. "They're only half Jotun, correct? I think that they should come and meet their grandmother."

"You are Not their grandmother," Loki snarled at her. "They only have one grandmother-"

"And now she's dead." She laughed when Loki tried to lunge at her. "I'll let you simmer on that." She turned around, headed for the door of the room. "Next time I see you, it will be with my final offer. I think that it will be something that you won't be able to decline." Loki closed his eyes and dropped against the wall when the door was shut.

The Casket of Ancient Winters was still on its pedestal, he could feel its power still coursing through the ground, rebuilding. But if they couldn't get to the Casket then Emma must have put up some kind of barrier. He had hoped that she would just take it leave, keep herself out of danger. Loki snorted to himself. Who was he kidding? She was the child of Tony and himself. Hopefully she would stay there to protect the Casket instead of coming to look for him.

Loki slid down against the wall to sit and stretch his legs out in front of him. After a day of crouching they were feeling rather stiff. He glanced down to the broken ice spear that was still in his shoulder. he had managed to push it out slightly by pressing his back against the wall earlier, but it hadn't come out. When a guard had come in to check on him they had broken off the end, making sure to keep part of it in his shoulder. Something felt different about it and he assumed that it was what was preventing him from accessing all of his powers. Given enough time he was sure that he would be able pool enough powers to break the chains.

A couple hours later he glanced up when the door opened and two guards walked in. "I suppose this is the part where you both try to convince me to cooperate?" He had spent too much time with Tony, sassing his captors. "To tell you how to get to the Casket?"

"Oh no, little runt," the guard said, shaking his head. "We know that you'll tell our Queen. We just get to have some fun until then." Loki just stared at them, not giving them anything. He needed to focus on his powers. That was probably going to be a little difficult as watched them crafting daggers from ice. 

* * *

Tony scrolled through some information on his tablet as he sat in bed. Tyr and Lya were lying down at the end of the bed again, keeping him company, looking at him because he should have been sleeping. "I've got some things on my mind, I'll fall asleep soon." The dogs snorted a little. "Oh, judge judge judge. You and JARVIS, I swear."

Tony sighed a little and swung his legs from the bed. "I need some coffee, or something. I'll be back, don't worry." Tony got up, shuffling out into the hall and headed to the kitchen. It was late, Loki still wasn't back and last he check Eindride was still sleeping after traversing his memories. Tony was trying to search for anything from the memory that could help him figure out just what he had been seeing.

"Glasir," Tony murmured. "Who or what are you?"

"Golden tree." Tony jumped at the soft sleepy voice than answered. He looked up to see Gabby in the kitchen with a mug of tea. "Fallen warriors see it." She shrugged a little. "I'm a history teacher and that includes Ancient History."

"Huh, I kind of forgot about that." Tony blinked a little. "What are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep. Sleepy time tea," she said as she held up the mug. "Has Glasir kept you awake?"

"Kind of yeah. Mind giving me a short lesson before I send you back to bed?" Tony leaned against the counter and she smiled slightly.

"Sure, it'll prepare me for classes after the Winter break." Gabby pulled up a chair to sit across from him at the counter. Tony had noticed that she wasn't sleeping as much, but he kind of expected that. He told Steve to ask if they both needed anything. "Glasir is the great golden tree that's found up in Valhalla. When warriors die that's the first thing they see when the Valkyries take them up there."

"Alright, so why Valhalla and not Helheim?" Tony asked.

"Valhalla is for the honored dead, and the warriors lay in wait for the battle where they're needed for Ragnarök," Gabby told him. "It's the army they say that Odin will command. Well, if Ragnarök comes around then it's Thor who will command it, but I don't think that Uncle Loki is going to destroy the Nine Realms just yet."

"And Valkyrie's are the hot chicks with wings, right? The Norse version of Angels?" Gabby snorted but nodded. "So, is there a reason that possibly a baby would be up in Valhalla?"

"Hmmm, possibly. I've never met a Valkyrie, and I don't know the truth behind this, I'll have to ask someone, but it was said that sometimes Valkyrie's would spend some time on Midgard, or other realms I assume. They would sometimes fall in love, blah blah, sin of man, blah blah, baby." Tony looked at her and she blinked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Would they raise the child up in Valhalla, or leave it with the other parent?" Tony asked, leaning in more.

"Uh, I'm not really sure? Possibly leave the child with the other parent. It's probably kind of hard to raise a child while charging into some battles." She frowned a little when she swore Tony paled a little. "Uncle Tony?"

"Is there any way to call down a Valkyrie, other than through Death?" Tony asked and Gabby shrugged a little.

"That's probably something you'd have to ask Dad, or Uncle Loki or Thor," she told him. "Uncle Tony? What's going on?"

"I think I've been in Valhalla," he said quietly and Gabby blinked. "I think I might have been born there..."


	25. Chapter 25

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki couldn't grasp his magic, not for long periods at least. He took a deep breath, trying not to move, feeling his skin shift from blue to pale, and back again. At first the guards were careless, slicing and slashing where they would, trying to inflict pain. But when Loki didn't react, moved when he had too, but didn't make a sound. And the made the guards mad.

After that they had left, let his sit for a day before two new guards walked in. These ones, he learned, were the specialists. They were trained. Tiny slices, thin, not too deep. Blood welled but didn't flow. These were the guards they called when they wanted to hear screams. They left him for another night knowing the wounds wouldn't heal over and would be more sensitive the next day. More sensitive to the knives that criss crossed over the previous days marks.

Loki glanced up when the guards walked in, a cup of water with them, and smirked a little. "Must be dinner time. I do so enjoy our time together." He sucked in a breath when some of the boiling water was poured over the wounds on his arm. "I simply dream of them all day," he hissed out. 

* * *

"By the Norns," Balder sighed, staring at Tony. "You can't be serious. Call down a Valkyrie?" It was morning and Balder was sitting at the dinner table across from Tony, staring at him. "The only reason a Valkyrie comes down is to aid in a battle, or to take a warrior back up to the Halls."

"And it used to be said that the only reason a God would come down to Earth was if they were offered a gift," Tony countered. "I'm pretty sure that I ran out of gifts to give Loki a while ago, but he stays with me."

"These are Valkyries!" Balder exclaimed. "There are just some creatures and beings that you don't mess with."

"I'm sure that messing with the denizens of Helheim falls into that category, but look what we do all the time!" Tony wrapped his hands around his mug of coffee. "There has to be some way of contacting them. I mean, no one can be that off the grid, just waiting for them to show up."

"Not everything works like that," Balder rubbed between his eyes. "It's not like everyone has an intergalactic cell phone.

"I should make that," Tony mumbled and Balder snorted. "I' completely serious though, Balder, I need to either get to Valhalla, or call down some Valkyries."

"And I'm telling you that the only way to get to Valhalla is by dying," Balder countered. "and there is no coming back from that death, so don't even think about it." He pointed at Tony, eyes narrowed to kill the thought before it began. "You have to be a dead warrior, worthy of taking a place in the army to fight in Ragnarök, or a Valkyrie returning home. And I highly doubt you'll be able to find a Valkyrie."

Tony tapped his fingers on the counter a little, staring at the god. "Alright, I'm gonna level with you, I'm gonna tell you why I'm so insistent on this."

"That would be much appreciated."

"I've seen Glasir," Tony told him and Balder raised an eyebrow. "The big golden tree? I've seen it, and I've seen the outside of the big hall where the warriors rest and that."

"There is no one alive to have seen these in Valhalla and live to tell the tale," Balder said gravely. "Even Thor, Loki and I don't know what they look like. We only have drawings graced to us by the Valkyries."

"Well, I've seen them." Tony pointed to his eyes. "With these two eyes. Obviously before I lost the sight in one of them. I was young, like newborn young." Balder frowned. "Anders was able to access my memories as a baby, he went back to the very beginning. I saw the tree, saw the leaves, touched them, and I heard a woman talking to me. She had feathers from wings, and talked about some Queen, and something about my dad, and she called me son."

Balder swallowed slowly and looked at Tony. He was silent, but never took his eyes off of the man. "You're starting to creep me out. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm trying to decide on if you're insane or not," Balder told him. Tony's expression deadpanned. "Do you know what you're suggesting? You're saying that you could quite possibly be the son of a Valkyrie."

"I think that's exactly what I'm saying," Tony agreed. "That's the only conclusion that I can come up with."

"What's her name?" Balder asked.

"I don't Know, why the hell do you think I'm asking for a way to speak to the Valkyries?" Tony almost threw a piece of fruit from the table at him. "I was a baby, probably a week old or something. She didn't exactly say, hey this is my name just incase someone is able to go back into your memories so you can see this." Tony rolled his eyes a little. "All I know is what she said, and that she had Amber wings. I mean, I saw her face so I'd know her if I saw her, but other than that," Tony shrugged. "Balder, I have to know if she gave me up because she wanted, or if she had no choice. I have to know if I was abandoned."

Balder let out a long sigh and rubbed his face. "Let me go back up to Asgard and see what I can do," he said behind his hands. "I make no promises. Does Loki know?"

"I found out after he left," Tony said, leaning back.

"You seem awfully calm about letting him go to Jotunheim alone," Balder commented and Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Why's that? He just went to take care of some stuff. Told him he'd better make sure that I' freaking warm when he takes me. Plus, Emma went with him."

"To take care of Farbauti?" Balder raised both eyebrow and Tony frowned. "You didn't know?"

"I don't think He knew. Who the hell is this Farbauti?" Tony leaned forward. "What's going on?"

"Farbauti took control of the throne while you and Loki were gone," he said slowly. He wasn't looking forward to the next part. "She's Loki's Mother." Tony's body tensed.

"Go to Asgard, work a miracle, because I have a bad feeling." Tony pushed himself up. "Time is not on our side anymore."


	26. Chapter 26

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki heard the door open, but instead of two pair of feet he heard three, with three more stilling outside. "I was wondering when you were going to tell your friends about me," Loki rasped out, eyes closed a little. "I hope you only told them good things."

There was a soft snort and he looked up to see Farbauti raising an eyebrow at him. "Your time on Midgard has made you weak. We can make you back into-"

"A warrior?" Loki raised his own eyebrow. "I never stopped being one. I am still feared by other realms."

"Clearly not feared enough," she shot back. "No one on this realm has come to fight for you or to free you."

"That's because they don't fear me here." Loki spit some blood by her feet. "They fear you." Farbauti smirked but he snorted. "I wouldn't be too proud of that. When your own people fear their ruler they run the risk of a rebellion, instability, and a sense of never being able to trust anyone." Loki leaned back on his heel, pressing his shoulders against the wall. "One needs to know where to be feared, and where to be respected. You know neither."

One of the guards moved towards him, dagger in hand, but Farbauti put her hand out to stop him. "I told you that when I came back, I would have an offer for you, one you wouldn't want to refuse." The door opened and the two guards that were outside came in, holding onto to someone. Someone shivering. Loki grit his teeth for a second, but stopped the emotions from showing on his face.

"Give us the Casket, and we'll let your mortal go," Farbauti said, motioning to Tony. Loki glanced at him, and he just winked at Loki. Loki almost laughed. His husband was stupid, but he had this all planned out. For once Tony had gotten captured on purpose. He was going to let Tony know how stupid he was later.

"And if I don't give it to you?" Loki, sounding disinterested.

"You'd risk his life?" One of the guards asked, jerking Tony's arm up. He let out a puff when he was pulled off his feet a little.

"It's not as if I can't find another one, but he's not exactly mortal," Loki told them. "You'd probably have a hard time killing him. Unfortunately."

"Your love warms my heart, baby," Tony beamed at him. He grunted when one of the guards cuffed the back of his head.

"We're going to kill him, then you," Farbauti said, glaring at Loki. "And once your dead, the Casket will be ours."

"That's actually not true," Loki said. "It's not my spell that's protecting the Casket." He could tell that Tony knew that Emma was still with the Casket of Ancient Winters, and that he had built that into his plan. "So while it's true that if you kill me you have a chance to claim it's power, but you'll never be able to get to it."

"And if you kill either one of us you'll be facing consequences far greater than you thought," Tony added.

"We don't fear your weak family," Farbauti said, for once turning to look at Tony. Tony let out a huff of laughter.

"You should, but that's not who I was talking about." Even Loki had to raise an eyebrow at this. "Killing either of us would mean that Jotunheim has declared an act of war against Valhalla and the Valkyries. And I'm sure you're aware of all the warriors in Valhalla that have been just itching for a good fight."

"And tell me, just why would the Valkyries fight for your weak life?" Farbauti turned to look at him. Tony just smirked, not saying anything.

The door was suddenly pushed open and a guard was there, his expression grim. "My Queen, an army approaches the palace."

"Who!" She roared, blood red eyes narrowed.

"An army of Jotnar, and, well, Valkyries. They're led by a Valkyrie and Utgard-Loki." Farbauti growled then looked back at Tony and Loki who wore the same smirk.

"Go, secure the defenses," she growled and all the guards left the room. She looked at Tony before she backhanded him, sending him into the wall next to Loki. "I'll kill you two first." She moved to pull out a dagger but a hand suddenly grabbed her hand and golden wings unfurled in the room.

"I wouldn't do that," the woman said, a sword in her other hand. "You would surely forfeit your life where you stand if you touch either one of them again."

Loki looked over at Tony as he stretched his arm out, a small laser pen sliding down into his hand from his sleeve. "Do I want to know how you managed this?" He asked as Tony worked on cutting through the shackles around his wrists.

"I'll tell you later, trust me, you'll want to hear this," Tony told him. The first shackled fell off and before he could move on tot he other Loki reached up, grabbing Tony's neck and kissed him. Tony blinked a little then smiled. "Mmmmm, I liked that."

"Is Thor here as well?" Loki asked as Tony turned his attention back to the other shackle. He noticed that the Valkyrie and Farbauti were gone from the room and wondered if they should be worried about that.

"Not this time. He was ready to gather the army of Asgard, but I told him to hold back." Loki rubbed his wrists and frowned at Tony. "Hey, I used to make weapons, I think I know a thing or two about strategy and war." He helped Loki sit, stretching his legs out in front of him. Loki started to rub one of his calves, working out any cramps that tried to form. "I have to say that I was surprised to find your namesake, and how it wasn't that hard to convince him to help."

"That's truly Utgard-Loki helping?" Loki asked, surprised. It was known that he was ultimately the one who protected and ruled over the planet, and let them name a King, until he had went into hiding before Laufey had taken over. When the Casket was taken it was said that he never emerged because he was the only thing keeping Jotunheim alive.

"Turns out he has some faith in you," Tony smirked a little. "Also, having a couple of Valkyries behind me really helps." He helped Loki stand up carefully. "Although, I learned you shouldn't surprise the man." Loki raised an eyebrow, and noticed that Tony was favoring one of his arms. He pushed up the sleeves on the jackets Tony was wearing and saw that his arm had suffered frostbite. "He moves fast."

"You insufferable man," Loki sighed and rested his head against Tony's.

"Ah, but it's this insufferable man who came to rescue you. For once." Tony grinned and kissed Loki's nose. "Also, the kids are with Emma." Loki raised his eyebrows. "All of them, and the dogs, so they're well protected. Tomas and Sander were having a snowball fight when I left."

"Genius my ass," Loki murmured and started to leave the cell. Tony quickly caught up with him. Loki blinked when he saw that the cells were already starting to be utilized, Farbauti's army finding themselves behind the bars they once used.

"I think that you're able to claim your kingdom again," Tony said as they walked through the halls. Loki snorted, smirking a little, feeling his skin settle on its blue tone.


	27. Chapter 27

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Emma and Kaia were watching the twins as they pelted Nathan with snow balls. Tyr and Lya sat by their feet as Runa and Vigi rolled around in the snow by the boys. It hadn't been that long since Tony had showed up, saying that he had a plan to not only get Loki back, but to take back the realm. Emma was surprised, but didn't doubt him.

"Excuse me?" Kaia and Emma both turned when they heard a voice behind them, hands glowing in defense, then blinked. The woman chuckled a little as she folded her wings against her back. "Yes, you must be the children that Anthony sent me to look for."

"But there's a barrier around this temple," Emma frowned a little.

"Yes, to keep your enemies away," the woman agreed. "I'm not an enemy." Emma glanced over at Tyr and Lya, and they sat there happily, not sensing a threat. "I'm here to tell you that the fighting is over, and your fathers await for you in the palace. Would you like an escort?"

"I suppose it couldn't hurt, since we don't know where anything is around here," Kaia answered, also taking her cues from the two Malamutes. Lya turned her head and let out a bark at the younger dogs. They turned their attention up immediately and started to run up to them.

"Hey!" The twins called out before following them, Nathan following at a more sedate pace, shaking snow off of his body. They stopped behind Emma and looked up at the Valkyrie, before both smiling.

====

Tony stood next to Loki, but one step behind as they stood facing the Frost Giant. Utgard-Loki really was formidable, and seeing him a second time wasn't any less frightening. Luckily Loki was with him this time.

"I thought the Allfather was pretentious at first," Utgard-Loki said as he looked down at the smaller Jotun. "Giving you my name. But perhaps the Norns had guided him."

"It was actually my mother that gave me the name," Loki told him. "Lady Frigga."

The elder Jotun nodded. "And what would you do to the traitors?" Even Tony could see that this was a test. Utgard-Loki could crush them both if he wanted, and not one single Jotun would stop him. The Valkyries that still remained might have a thing to say, but he knew that they could also call it an act of stupidity. "They slaughtered a village that dared to bear your banners, that dared to follow your rule."

"They will know punishment for their actions." Loki's voice was fierce. "But I will not be as cruel as they." Utgard-Loki looked at him, watching him.

"But you won't stay here, I can see that."

"I'm afraid my loyalties lie with my family," Loki admitted. "I stay with them, for I've spent too much time away from them already."

"I don't think we'd have any issues with vacationing here though." All three turned to see the group headed towards them, Emma leading them. Tony saw Utgard-Loki looking at her, calculating her character. He was distracted when Tomas jumped at him and he ophed as he caught him in his arms. Sander had walked over to Loki, holding onto his leg as he looked up at the older Giant.

Loki smiled down at Sander and put a hand on his head before turning back to his namesake. "I would ask you a favor, if you would hear it." Utgard-Loki nodded once. "While I cannot live here, I would ask that you, or someone that you trust, assume an authoritative role while I'm not here. I will of course keep in contact, this realm will not be ignored but-"

"On one condition," he interrupted and Loki blinked. "You name an heir. The people must be assured that the throne will be secure." Tony glanced over at his husband.

"I can do it," Emma stepped forward and both Loki and Tony turned to look at her at the same time. "I can spend time here, getting to know the place, and the people. I'm sure that I can learn a lot, and I want to. I feel comfortable here." Tony swore he saw a smirk on Utgard-Loki's face.

"It would be bad to swear at him, right?" Tony whispered to Loki and he shot him a look. "Figured."

"I don't plan on exactly dying or stepping down anytime soon," Loki looked back at Utgard-Loki.

"None do." He merely smiled. "I'll give you a week to make your decision. Your Mate knows how to find me." He turned to Tony and smirked a little. "How's your arm?"

"Still a bad idea to swear at him right?" Loki nodded. Tony looked at the smirking Jotun. "It really rather hurts, to be honest." Utgard-Loki reached out and took Tony's arms, noting how his arm tensed a little, and let a blue glow light Tony's arm. When he let go Tony shifted Tomas on his hip and looked at his arm. The frostbite was gone. "Huh, look at that. Thanks, for you know, taking away what you gave me." Loki sighed a little. "Where's Anders?" 

* * *

Eindride let his fingers trail across the walls, didn't feel the chill through the stone and knew that his skin had changed. He idly wondered what his eyes looked like now, but didn't dwell on it. Although Tony didn't like it, he went with Tony and the Valkyries to the palace when they attacked. Not that he was in the middle of action, but he was able to use his powers to try and help.

"It's easy to get lost here, even with eyesight." Eindride stopped at the voice that spoke behind him. "Your brothers and sisters are here, back with your parents now. Would you like an escort?"

"How far are you going to escort me?" He turned around to face her. "Just to the door where you'll turn and leave? Or will you make sure that I get to my parents?" Neither of them moved for a second. "Will you let him see you? There's a reason you came with the others. You didn't have to, but you did."

"I had to back up his claim," she said quietly.

"But you didn't have to come. You wanted to see him." He could hear her feathers ruffling a little. "He wants to see you, I've seen it."

"He wouldn't even know I was around," she told him. "He shouldn't know about me. You shouldn't know about me, either."

"We shouldn't, but we do." Eindride took a step closer to her. "Ever since he found out, he's been in a constant state of questioning. He needs to know why, he needs to know what happened. My dad is going to live a very long time, don't let this eat at him for that long."

The woman walked over to him and put a hand on his cheek gently. "Your dad is very lucky to have you. I wish I could have been half the parent he is to you and your siblings."

"You can start now," Eindride told her, looping his arm around hers. "I need an escort, and I'm not letting you go until we get there. And don't try to mislead us, because I can feel my father's magic, so I'll know if we're moving further away."

"I may be rethinking my last statement."


	28. Chapter 28

**A****/N: **  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Eindride heard Tony asking for him as they walked into the room. He pulled the Valkyrie closer to him as they walked in. "I'm here."

"Good, I didn't want to have to send the dogs after you," Tony said. "Although I completely would have used the line, release the hounds."

"Of course you would have." Eindride heard Nathan murmur and both he and Kaia chuckled.

"Eir," Loki called out, sounding surprised. Eindride felt the Valkyrie respond in her muscle movement. "It has been an awfully long time since I have seen you."

"And now look Little Prince, you are a King." Tony raised an eyebrow and looked at Loki before turning to look at the woman fully. His breath caught when she was close enough. It was the same woman in his memory, right down to the color of her wings.

"Well, I admit that it wasn't my first choice. I'm perfectly happy with leaving my mark," Loki continued, not noticing Tony's unease at first. "Now I actually have to be responsible." Emma, Kaia, Nathan, and even Tyr and Lya all snorted and Loki shot them a glare. Loki glanced over at Tony to see his reaction then blinked when he saw that Tony and Eir were keeping eye contact. "Tony?" He asked quietly and Tony's head jerked over to him surprised at first.

"Sorry, my mind must have been somewhere else. So you know a Valkyrie?" Loki frowned when Tony tried to brush the matter off. "I was told that it was nearly impossible to see them unless you were dead or dying."

"Some of them came to Asgard to see Mother," Loki said carefully, watching him closely. "She had the power of the Sight, and many visitors would come trying to get some answers."

"I saw the Allmother several times," Eir spoke up and Tony swallowed a little, not looking back over. Loki noticed this time. "I can happily tell you that is she quite at peace in Valhalla, Little Prince." Now the others were noticing that Tony was acting oddly. When Emma and Kaia glanced over at Eindride they noticed that his attention was faced towards Tony as well. He knew something that they didn't.

"Perhaps we should moved to a more private room," Loki suggested. "Eir, you and Tony can fill me in on what happened during my captivity, yes?" He put a hand on Tony's arm and Tony nodded. Eir pat Eindride's arm as she slipped from his grip. Eindride made a noise but Emma was there to take his other arm, promising that he was going to be filling them in.

Loki was more or less guessing as they waked down the halls, trying to find a room that would work. He still had no idea as to the layout of the palace, but having been raised in one, and visiting others he had a vague idea of where he would be able to find a bedroom or a study. When he opened a door he was pleased to see a study with plenty of comfortable seating.

Eir sat gently on a chair closest to the door while Tony had retreated to a couch a little further away. "I have to say that I was surprised to see Jotnar and Valkyries working together," Loki started as he closed the door. "I was even more surprised when I found out that my husband had arranged it all. And I'm trying to figure out how."

"Thor was the one who did a the communicating for me," Tony offered up. "I talked to Balder, and he went up to Thor, and then I just picked up the line."

"That doesn't explain How you got them to agree to it," Loki told him. "I do not mean that much to the realms that the Valkyries would deem me worthy enough to risk a war."

"No, but you mean that much to me," Tony muttered a little.

"That Farbauti had imprisoned you, and tortured you could be looked at as an act of transgression against the Valkyries," Eir said softly. Loki frowned a little. "When they had captured Tony, and threatened his life, that Was seen as an act of war. They brought a battle to themselves."

"I don't understand," Loki said carefully. He didn't like not understanding. "Neither of us is important enough to capture the attention of Valhalla. At least not until our deaths."

"After you and Emma left, I was going to go to Helheim," Tony started and Loki and Eir looked over at him. Tony looked at his hands as he spoke. "I was going to find Howard, I had to ask him why. Eindride was still there and he stopped me, and instead suggested to use his powers. The kids good, Lokes." Tony took a breath and rolled his neck a little. "He found one of my first memories, and there was a golden tree, and a woman talking."

"He has truly special abilities," Eir said softly and Tony looked up, meeting her eyes. She looked over at Loki for a second. "They saw Glasir." Loki blinked his eyes open wide. "They saw my last moment with my son." Loki whipped his head around to look at Tony, then back to Eir. "I often went to see the Queen and she told me more about a Sight than she had told anyone else. She told me that my sons fate was to be on Midgard. I often wonder if she saw that the two of you would find each other."

Loki felt himself slip down onto the same couch as Tony as he took the information in. "At first I thought that I was meant to leave him with his father, but I was told that he would soon be coming to the Hall of Valhalla soon. Unfortunately, he would not have remembered me, or our son, once he entered the halls." She moved a little in the seat, not looking away from the two men. "I crafted an amulet that would protect you once down on Midgard, it's power would take you to the one who was meant to raise you."

Tony bit his tongue a little to resist the bitter laugh that bubbled up. "I was glad to hear of the name they gave you. I had named you Anton." Eir looked at Tony. "You wouldn't happen to have the amulet still?"

Tony frowned and shook his head a little. "I lost it,... Many years ago, in a uh, in a desert." He tried to resist tapping his fingers on his arc reactor. "That could explain a few things."

"I can't explain the actions of the two that raised you," Eir told him. "I only wanted to make sure that I didn't see you in the Halls of Valhalla. I couldn't bear to see my son preparing for a war that would likely take his life from me again."

"It very well could have," Loki admitted. "If you had not sent him down to Midgard, it's likely that we would not have met." Loki turned to look at Tony.

"It was not hard to get the Valkyries to agree to fight," Eir said after a few moments, to break the silence. "Tony is one of ours, and since you two are married, that makes you one of ours as well." Eir sniffed a little and rubbed her palms on her knees. "I hope it's not too forward or out of place to say, but, you have precious children." Tony couldn't help the hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.

Loki caught the smile and let his hand settle on top of Tony's. Tony looked over at Loki and nodded once, prompting a kiss to his cheek. "I'll leave you two for a bit. I have a few more things to attend to, like talking with our wayward daughter about becoming heir apparent." Tony snorted a little as Loki headed for the door.

Once the door had closed again the two looked at each other. "So, you didn't want to give me up?"

"Norns no," Eir shook her head. "I wanted to keep you in my arms forever, never letting you grow up. I wanted to see your eyes look up at me every day, no matter if you were crying or laughing, or whatever, I just know I wanted to be there for it all." Tony swallowed a little and nodded. He knew the feeling, intimately, as a father. "Despite all that, I wanted to do what was best for you, what would make you happiest. Ah well," she let out a little sigh. "They say that good men mean well, but they don't aways end doing well. I supposed that extends to parents and even Valkyries."

"Another question," Tony asked after a few seconds. "If I'm half Valkyrie, will I get wings?" Eir let out a laugh, a sound that left a warm tingle in Tony's bones, and he couldn't help but smile at the sound.

"Your father asked the same thing when he learned I was pregnant." She smiled at him and Tony thought that he would like to see that smile around a little more often. "He was just the biggest smartass I had ever met! Thought that just because he was a soldier that his pickups would work for him instead of the average man from an office."

"He was obviously right," Tony smirked. His snark and sass were genetic then. "He got you, didn't he?" Eir let out another laugh.

Loki couldn't help the small smile as he leaned by the door, hearing the laugh, before walking away. He'd have a talk with Tony later, but at least this was one thing that Tony could cross off of his list of problems to solve.


	29. Chapter 29

**A****/N: Here's a mostly happy chapter! I think we're nearing the end of this story, but there will be another story after this, because these guys aren't done getting into trouble yet!**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

It was late, and Loki had been unable to pry Emma away from her siblings to talk to her. He was pretty sure that she would be stubborn in the decision to become his heir though. Now he was headed down the hall that someone had been kind enough to inform him was where his own personal bedroom would be. Loki thought that he would find it, then go find Tony and they could get some well deserved sleep. He had even let some of the Jotun and Valkyrie healers see to his wounds, Loki thought that that was a testament to how tired he probably was.

Loki opened one of the double doors to the bedroom and looked around. He appreciated the fact that the bed was large, but he didn't have time to notice anything else when he was suddenly slammed against the door, closing it. Arms were wrapped around his neck and lips were suddenly on his, a warm body pressing against him. His eyes widened a little before he recognized the lips as Tony's.

Loki wrapped a possessive arm around Tony's waist and held onto him, moaning a little into the kiss. "Hello," Tony grinned against his lips.

"What's this for?" Loki raised an eyebrow smirking a little.

"I was having a few thoughts while I was waiting for you to come back," Tony said, breath ghosting across Loki's skin as he let his lips trail along Loki's jaw and cheeks. "One was the thought that it's been over five years since we've had sex."

"You had mentioned that before I left." Loki's hand was rubbing Tony's lower back.

"Well, I was also thinking about the last time we went a while without sex." Tony lightly kissed Loki's neck.

"Which time?" Loki smirked a little, humming as Tony let his lips trail along the sensitive skin on his pulse point.

"I think Kaia was just a baby."

Loki snorted and grinned. "Yes, I think you would have gotten me pregnant again if I had said yes."

"Question? If I get you pregnant like this, would the baby be born blue?" Tony yelped when Loki pinched his back.

"Careful, or I'll make you go to bed without taking care of this." Loki pressed his hips up and Tony moaned.

"Five years is utterly too long," Tony moaned as he moved forward to bite Loki's lip.

* * *

Lee motioned to the door and Clint raised an eyebrow. "Come on, come on," she urged as he walked towards it. He had left Lee in charge of finding an apartment after everyone had come back. She had made herself scarce while he helped around the Tower while everyone took the time to rest and recoup. Gabby and Steve had taken the kids back to their own house and Clint was just checking up on the Tower after Tony and the others had left for Jotunheim.

"I'm trying to build suspense." Lee smacked his shoulder and Clint chuckled. "Alright, alright." He opened the door and walked into the apartment. He was greeted to a living room that already held a couch, the one from his old place surprisingly, and a coffee table. There was an entertainment center there, but it was empty and surrounded by boxes. He knew they'd have a bookcase or two in there, and there seemed to be just the right amount of space.

"The landlord said we can paint, as long as we paint it back to white before we move out," Lee said as she walked in, closing the front door.

"Don't let Tony in here with a paint brush then," Clint commented as he looked around the living room. He could see a couple of frames leaning against the wall to be hung later. "Ask Gabby and Bruce. Yeah, Bruce sounds like he'd know what he was doing."

"We can discuss colors later." Lee started to direct him over to the side. "So then through here is even a little dining area."

"And by little you mean big enough to entertain a dozen people at a table," Clint chuckled as they walked in. There was no table or chairs but he saw pieces of paper on the floor, each with print outs of different tables. "Was someone playing decorator?"

"I was just getting some ideas," Lee smiled, hanging her arms over his shoulders from behind. "I particularly like the hardwood floor in here and in the kitchen. Speaking of look, it's like a bar, with a serving window."

Clint walked over, dragging Lee behind him, and leaned on the bar looking into the kitchen. There were new appliances, even a dishwasher (which Clint was very thankful for), and plenty of counter space for Lee to cook on and for Clint to perch on while she did so. "I like how the counters wrap around. I can sit on one side while you cook on the other."

"That would be your first thought." she snorted a little and he grinned. "Down that way is a second bedroom that I'm using for storage right now, and a full bathroom."

"I wondered where all the other boxes were." Clint glanced down the hallway as she pulled him along. "Hey, look, there's two stories," he said when she pulled him to some carpet covered stairs. "This is nice."

"I thought so. Our bedroom, another bathroom, and an office is up here." She moved in front of him and grabbed his hands, pulling him up. "I want to show you just how big the bedroom is, because I like it." Clint raised an eyebrow and followed her.

They reached the door and Lee leaned against it, pushing it open with her hip and Clint raised both eyebrows. The room had already been paint, the bed set up along with a dresser against the wall, and two bedside tables. The walls were a deep purple that seemed to make the light colored wood of the new bedframe stand out. Clint noted that the bed was bigger than what he or she used to own. The bed was covered in new sheets and blankets, but he barely noticed when Lee pushed the door closed with her foot.

Clint wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Did someone buy a new bed?" She grinned and he kissed her slowly.

"You noticed," she grinned, wrapping an arm around his neck. "Agent Barton, I think that it is our duty, as SHIELD Agents, to test out this bed."

"It would be irresponsible of us not to." Clint kissed her as they backed up slowly to the new bed. 

* * *

Steve yawned a little as he shuffled back fro Andrew's room to his own. He slipped through the door without opening it all the way and blinked a little when one of the bed lamps was on. Gabby was sitting up in the bed. "Hey, I thought you were asleep?" Steve leaned over and kissed her cheek before slid into the bed next to her.

"I heard you get up," she said, rubbing one of his hands a little. "I know this past week hasn't been easy, and I know I haven't said much about anything, and you've just picked up the slack without a complaint."

"I would call it picking up the slack," Steve countered. "This week hasn't been easy, but I didn't expect it would be. I don't know what you went through, not physically, but I know that it wasn't something that either one of will get over easily. You more than me." His thumb rubbed her fingers gently. "I'm going to be here by your side, because I want to be, not because I think I have to be. We'll get through this, like we have everything else, it just might take a little longer than we thought."

Gabby leaned her head against his shoulder before turned into his arms. "Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve you. It's like you're the perfect husband."

Steve snorted a little as he rubbed her back. "I'm far from perfect. We still have our fights, and there are still nights that I'll end up on the couch. I'm pretty crap at planning parties or keeping a schedule of the activities that the kids have, and I'm afraid that Bry will go through the same emotional stage that Anya did."

"And that's why you're perfect," Gabby told him. "Yeah, you're the amazing Captain America, made to look perfect, which still not complaining about that," Steve snorted a little. "But you're still just an average guy with a family. You get confused, and flustered just like every other husband and parent, but at the end of the day you're still here, and we still love each other."

Steve kissed the top of her head, holding onto her. "I used to think about my life would be like if they had found me back in the 40's. I don't anymore though, because you wouldn't have been around then, and I wouldn't be able to have what I do now."

"You're such a sap, Steven Rogers," Gabby murmured into his chest. Steve grinned a little and she snorted. "Thank you."


	30. Chapter 30

**A****/N: Epilogue! It's short, just a little something. Stay tuned for the next part though! Coming either today or tomorrow! I have a snow storm to combat.**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony turned when Clint and Lee walked into the living room. "Hey! There are the little lovebirds." Tony smirked when Clint rolled his eyes a little. "Where have you two been hiding?"

"Us?" Clint raised an eyebrow. "We didn't disappear to a different realm for a week. How was Winter Wonderland?"

"Cold as balls," Tony put his Starkpad on the table and turned on the couch to face them as they sat down. "But I finally got a warmth amulet from Loki. Now I'm not the only one who's freezing their ass off up there. Loki and Emma are staying up there a little longer though, so I came back with the other hooligans."

"I think I'll stay here where it's still relatively warm," Clint said, arm going on the back of the couch, around Lee's shoulders. Tony eyed them and Lee just sat with a content smile.

"Something's different," Tony frowned watching them. "Something happened."

"He's more observant than you gave him credit for," Lee said to Clint, smiling at Tony.

"Alright, what did she do?" Tony looked at Clint. He scoffed a little.

"Who says that when something good happens it's what she did?" Tony just stared at him. "I Am capable of doing things."

"It's true," Lee nodded. "Clint was a big boy and decided that it was time we moved in together, and-"

"Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa," Tony leaned forward on the couch. "Barton made a grown up decision? He decided that after six years, it was Finally time for the both of you to get an apartment together?" Clint was almost glaring at him. "Holy shit, about time. So when's the house warming?"

"Never for you." Clint told him and Tony actually pouted.

"We haven't decided yet," Lee corrected. "We're still unpacking everything. We just finished painting the rooms."

"Oh man, there's even painting involved, this is serious." now Tony was teasing and Clint was sad that he didn't bring any of his tranq darts. "I'm impressed Clint. Really, this is great for you two. You live closer now right?"

"Yes, and you don't get the address yet," Clint answered.

"I'll even respect your wishes and not have JARVIS track down that information." Tony smirked a little and Clint snorted while Lee chuckled. "I'd watch out, I could have a whole army of Valkyries on your ass."

"Valkyries?" Clint raised an eyebrow. "How'd you piss them off?"

"Oi," Tony frowned. "I didn't piss them off. Yet." Clint and Lee both snorted at that. "It's a long story."

"We've got time." Lee smiled.


End file.
